Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and events from J.K. Rowling's wonderful Harry Potter books. I am writing this for my own enjoyment and hopefully for the enjoyment of readers. Anything you recognize belongs to JKR. The rest belongs to me.
Chapter 20: Secrets
James had to stand still for a few moments to allow his heart to pump again. It had skipped a few beats, however as he thought about the kiss Lily had given him he felt his heart starting to race. Could it be possible for Lily Evans to like him? As more than a friend? He seemed to be in a daze and didn't know where he was or what he was doing until he found himself in the Gryffindor common room with a hand waving in his face.
"Oy, James! Earth to James! What's his problem, anyway?" he heard Sirius ask.
Remus studied James for a moment and said, "I think I recognize that goofy grin, however I've never seen it quite so intense."
Sirius rolled his eyes and turned to Remus, "Well are you gonna share your theory with us or shall I start guessing?"
"I've seen that expression before when a certain redhead is around, if you know what I mean," replied Remus, smiling.
Sirius raised his eyebrows and turned back to James. "Soooo, James…is Remus right? Have you seen Evans lately?" James' grin widened. Sirius smirked.
Just then Alice, Marlene, and Lily walked down from the girls' dormitory and made their way to the portrait hole. James' gaze followed Lily, who glanced over at him. She smiled, blushed, and hurried to catch up with her friends.
Remus chuckled and said, "I'll take that as a yes."
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As February drew to an end Remus grew paler and paler. He disappeared one day, leaving a note for the Marauders that his mother had taken ill again and he had to rush to see her. This was the second time since returning from the holiday break that his mother was ill. James thought that it seemed odd that she fell ill so often. Remus had never even told anyone what it was she suffered from.
One evening after class James and Sirius were serving detention in the library. They were dusting each book in the DADA section, which was rather large. After an hour of this Sirius moaned, "Man, I can't believe we have to do this the Muggle way! This is ridiculous!"
"I agree. Magic would be so much easier," said James. As he pulled another book off the shelf it fell open and started to screech loudly. He forced it shut and placed it back on the shelf quickly, but not before Madame Pince threw them a nasty look.
Sirius scowled as he pulled another book off the shelf. "This is not fair. Remus got into trouble as well but he's not serving detention. Sometimes I wonder if his mum is not ill and that he's being clever about avoiding detention."
"I have to admit I had the same thoughts, although it would 't be like Remus to lie about something like that," said James.
Sirius nodded, "I know, I agree. It's just strange, that's all. He's going to miss the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match tomorrow. He always seems to miss the fun things - the opening feast in September, the Mrs. Norris prank and the clown charms in October, he was gone for that American muggle holiday- Thanksgetting, is it? He was gone last month when we did the whoopee cushion hex on Snape, and now he's missing a Quidditch match!"
James nodded thoughtfully as he dusted another book, "Yeah. You know what's strange, Sirius? I never noticed it before but it seems like he's away every month." He tossed the book back onto the shelf. It missed, however, and landed open on the floor. James bent to pick it up.
"Can you imagine if he was pulling the ultimate con to get out of classes every month?" Sirius smirked and shook his head. "Nah, we know him better than that. He gets pale if we mention pranking the teachers." He looked down at James, who was studying the book that had fallen. "James?"
James slowly stood back up, still skimming through the book. His brows were furrowed and he shook his head a few times.
"James?" asked Sirius again. "What's got your attention?"
"Sirius," muttered James, still reading through the book. "When is the full moon this month?"
Sirius thought for a moment and replied, "Tonight, I think. Why?"
James nodded and turned the page. "The night we first arrived and the night we snuck out to prank Mrs. Norris - there was a full moon, too, wasn't there?"
Sirius shrugged and replied, "Yeah, I guess. I don't really remember. What are you getting at?"
James looked up from the book and stared ahead, not at anything in particular. He seemed deep in thought. Sirius by this point started to become frustrated and grabbed the book from James. He looked at the title, which read Dark Creatures and How to Recognize Them. He looked to the chapter that James had been reading which said, "Lycanthropy." He read the first few lines that said,
Tales of man-wolves have been around since antiquity. Greek mythology tells of a
bloodthirsty tyrant named Lycaon who greatly angered Zeus by serving him the flesh
of a human child. As punishment, Zeus turned Lycaon into a wolf, although some of
his human features remained.
Sirius looked up at James. "Why are you reading this?"
James replied, "Read further- go to the part on how to recognize one."
Sirius skipped forward and read about werewolves being seemingly normal people, how they possessed tremendous strength and would transform every month during the full moon. The transformations were extremely painful so often the affected person would appear ill during the week leading up to the transformation. Sirius stopped and looked back at James. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
James studied his friend and nodded, "I think I am. Think about it- he's gone every month. He always seems pale and sickly around that time- we always thought that was because he was worried about his mum. If we look back I'll bet you he was gone during a full moon."
Sirius nodded. "You're probably right but we can check on that later. If this is true, where do you think he goes during the transformation? Back home?"
"It seems like a long trip back and forth to make with the transformations occurring and all. I think he's somewhere nearby, which would mean that Dumbledore'd know about it. He wouldn't exactly allow a werewolf to roam about the grounds now, would he?" added James.
"Yeah," said Sirius. "But where would he go so that he couldn't attack anyone?"
"We'll have to ask him when he gets back," said James.
"Do you think he'll actually admit it?" wondered Sirius. "Look at how much he's lied to keep us from finding out."
"Yeah, he may not admit it readily," said James.
Sirius grinned and said, "Oh, I think we can get him to crack."
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No mention was made of James' and Sirius' theory when Remus first returned from his 'visit with mum.' They were thinking of ways to force him to reveal the truth. Peter was not yet filled in on the theory. After all, if they were wrong they didn't want to risk false rumors spreading about their friend.
At breakfast on Monday there was a lot of celebration at the Gryffindor table as they rubbed in their win against Hufflepuff. Lily noticed that Alice was shaking her head a lot as she read the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. When she looked up Lily saw that she was flushed with anger and had tears in her eyes. "What's wrong, Alice?" asked Lily.
"The paper this morning - it has another story about that dark lord who has been organizing attacks. There have been two more - this time he and his supporters killed entire families. There was a message left behind stating that his power and support are increasing and that no Muggle or Muggleborn will be safe. It even said that no Muggleborn child would be safe," cried Alice.
"How's that possible? Hogwarts is supposed to be one of the safest places to be. It has added protection and from what I've heard Dumbledore is a force to be reckoned with," said Marlene. "Anyone would be a fool to try to attack the school."
"Maybe he was referring to children too young to come to Hogwarts," Lily pointed out. She shuddered thinking of how someone could target her just for being born to non-wizard folk.
As they started to make their way to class Remus caught up with Lily. She turned to greet him but paused as she noticed how pale he looked. She couldn't be sure but it looked like there was a large bruise fading from his cheek.
"Remus, are you okay?" she asked.
He shrugged and smiled. "Yeah, I was just in a little accident this weekend when I was home. I already had a visit with Madame Pomfrey when I returned so I'll be fine. Anyway," he said, changing the subject, "I wanted to let you know that Emm and I are going to be in the library tonight to work on that Potions essay. I thought you'd want to join us."
Lily smiled and shook her head. "I would but I can't. I have to, uh, tutor someone." Before Remus could ask her more, she said, "We'd better get going or we'll be late."
Remus rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, wouldn't want to miss a word of the enigmatic Professor Binns!" He walked into the classroom and sat next to James. He noticed that Sirius was already settling down for his post-breakfast nap.
James leaned over and whispered, "What'd you want with Evans?"
"Emm and I wanted to get our study group together tonight, but Lily has to tutor someone," replied Remus.
"Who?" wondered James.
"She didn't say."
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That evening after flying class James and Sirius were in the common room. Remus was in the library with Emm, so this gave the two boys a chance to talk more about the werewolf theory.
"So, are we sure that it's true?" asked James.
"How could we be wrong? The book described his signs to a tee," said Sirius.
James frowned and said, "Maybe we need to be careful about confronting him. I mean, do you think he would be dangerous if we got him upset? Normally he's so calm and reserved."
Sirius shook his head, "I don't think he would be. The book said werewolves can seem like normal people. Although it never said anything about strong emotions and if making one angry would be okay when it's not the full moon."
"Maybe we could ask someone without it seeming obvious why we're interested," said James.
Sirius turned to James and said, "Who do you have in mind? It would have to be someone who would know the answer and you would have to make it sound like simple curiosity."
The boys thought for a few minutes before James snapped his fingers and said, "I have an idea - Professor Riddle! He's the DADA teacher so he would be sure to know about it."
Sirius smiled and said, "Yeah, that's not a bad idea. He seems pretty cool so I don't think he'd ask a lot of questions about why we want to know."
James stood up and said, "I'll go see if Riddle's in his office. Why don't you stay here in case Remus comes back - maybe you can find out more without actually accusing him." Sirius nodded and James headed out of the portrait hole.
As he walked down the corridor he thought about his friend and what must have happened for him to become a werewolf. He seemed positive that Remus was tame, even if he was a werewolf. While his friend enjoyed participating in their pranking, he seemed extra cautious about anything that could cause harm to anyone. How could someone like that be dangerous, even as a werewolf?
He seemed determined to find out more answers so he and Sirius could confront Remus and get the truth revealed. He walked up to the door to Professor Riddles office, knocked, and opened it without waiting for a reply. When he walked in he was startled to see Evans sitting in a chair across from the desk. Professor Riddle's head turned sharply toward James.
His eyes darkened as he snapped at James, "Potter! Did no one ever teach you to wait for a reply after knocking?"
James stood there dumbfounded. "I-I'm sorry, Professor. I didn't realize-"
"Never mind about that." Riddle's expression calmed a bit however he still looked annoyed. "What is it that you want, Potter?"
James almost forgot why he had come, however once he remembered he realized he couldn't start asking questions with Evans in the room. "I-well, I can ask about it some other time. It's not that important."
Riddle stared across the room into James eyes and said, "The way you rushed in here makes it seem like it is important."
James stared at the floor before coming up with an explanation. "Well, I wanted to see if I could turn in the assignment on Friday instead of Wednesday. I wanted to do some more research."
Riddle scrutinized James, who was still looking at the floor. "Fine. That won't be a problem."
James then realized that Evans was still there. He looked at her and saw that she was still sitting in front of the desk, but she was staring straight ahead. He walked a little closer to her and said, "Hey, Evans! What are you doing here?" She blinked a few times, but did not respond. Why was she ignoring him?
"Potter, if there isn't anything else, you should get going and start that research you said was so important," snapped Riddle.
As James turned to leave, he could have sworn he saw Evans' hand shake a little. It could have been his imagination, though, he thought. As he walked back to the common room he remembered something Remus had told him earlier. Evans was supposed to be tutoring someone. If that was the case, then why was she in Riddle's office?
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James and Sirius are figuring out Remus' secret. Wonder how they'll get him to crack…
Thanks to my latest reviewers: Anonymous, Amber Eyes, sweetie513, Harrysgrl, KaitPotter21, and Green Eggs and Ham. Replies are in the review section.
Next chapter: More investigation into Remus' secret.