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 47: The Veil of the Dead
Over the next few months James pushed the boggart incident to a distant spot in his mind, which wasn't hard considering he had a busy schedule. Each class piled on more homework than the students thought necessary, and Carlton Wood was holding Quidditch practice practically every night. Gryffindor had trounced over Hufflepuff in the most recent match, and Carlton was obsessed with repeating the previous year's victory of the Quidditch Cup.
The Animagus training was slower than the Marauders would have hoped for, but getting the precise details of their Animagus forms was more difficult than expected. James and Sirius were anxious to start practicing on themselves, but Remus insisted they wait until they perfected the current step lest there be an unfortunate accident. James and Sirius grudgingly complied, only because they were doing this illegally and couldn't think of a way to charm Madame Pomfrey should one of them walk into the hospital wing stuck with one of their Animagus characteristics.
Peter was coming along as well with the transformation, though slower than James and Sirius. It frustrated him to constantly be behind them - in classes, in his social status, and in the Animagus training. Even so, he was still grateful for their friendship, and it helped to have friends such as his when the Slytherins were nearby. With the Marauders, Peter felt a few inches taller. Sirius and James, while they joked about Peter's slow progress with the Animagus training, still made it their mission to help their friend. Peter had kept his promise about keeping Remus' secret and he even came in handy when the Marauders wanted to get into mischief.
At dinner Sirius, after spending a few hours helping Peter perfect transfiguring the bristles of his hairbrush into rat's whiskers, convinced Peter to transfigure the end of Marlene's fork into a rat's tail when she wasn't looking. After hearing a disgusted cry from down the Gryffindor table Remus glared at Sirius and Peter who were busy laughing at their ingenuity.
"Can you at least try not to be so obvious about your little project?" hissed Remus.
"Moony, calm down," appeased Sirius. "For all McKinnon knows, we're just having some fun on her account."
"Last week you caused her school robes to sprout dog fur," said Remus. "What'll be next? The more you play around like this the more likely she will snoop around and discover our secret."
Before Sirius or Peter could respond James sat down, having just finished Quidditch practice. His robes were soaked from the rain and his hair was plastered to his head with a few stubborn strands sticking up. He eagerly grabbed his plate and started loading it with food. As he shoved piles of food into his mouth his friends watched with amusement.
"Careful, Prongs," advised Remus. "If you keep eating like that you'll put Padfoot to shame."
"Hey!" said Sirius, indignantly.
After James finished his chicken he asked Remus, "Moony, have you had any more luck on your research about our DADA professor?"
"Not yet," replied Remus. "I have another study session with Lily and Emm tonight and I thought I might
hang around afterward and snoop around some more. That is, if you don't mind my borrowing your cloak
again."
"No problem," said James.
Despite their efforts to find more about their DADA professor, he still remained a mystery to them. The boggart incident with the blanket made things more confusing. The Marauders had to admit that even though their professor was a bit unusual he was still good at his job. He had brought the DADA classes to life by his practical application of the subject. Somehow he had managed to obtain a hinkypunk and a grindylow for class and each student had had the opportunity to face them.
Next week they were to start studying nocturnal beasts, and Remus wasn't looking forward to the chapter on werewolves. Peurom had assigned the class to write an essay on the different kinds of nocturnal beasts. Remus had written quite a bit about vampires but his section on werewolves was rather short. When asked by James why he didn't write more, Remus sheepishly replied that he didn't want to seem too knowledgeable on the subject. Sirius had laughed, saying that if the length of his essays gave away who he was, then maybe he was a hinkypunk as well, or a red cap.
Later that evening Remus was studying with Emm and Lily while they finished their DADA essays. Remus thought he would lose his dinner by the end of the session as the girls kept reviewing the different symptoms of werewolves and the ways in which to recognize them.
"Remus, you're awfully quiet tonight," commented Emm. "Are you getting sick again?"
"No!" said Remus. "I think Sirius must have slipped something into my dinner, that's all. He's always pulling stuff like that."
Lily said, "Well, I think we've done enough for tonight. Do you guys want to meet again on Thursday after dinner?"
"I can't," said Remus. When Lily and Emm looked at him in question he added, "I-I have to go see my mum again."
Lily gave him an odd look but before she could say anything Emm said, "Oh, I can't either, Lily. I have to tutor a first-year student in Potions. Besides, I think we're way ahead of things. Why don't we just meet next Monday, instead?"
"I'm fine with that," said Remus.
"Ok, sure," said Lily.
After they left the library, Remus told Lily he'd forgotten something and said she didn't need to wait for him. Once she was out of sight, Remus pulled out James' invisibility cloak and threw it on. Once he made it back to the library he went to the back where the Restricted Section was. At this point in the evening there weren't many students left and none of them were near the Restricted Section so Remus felt comfortable that no one would see any books floating mysteriously in midair.
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A few hours later the portrait hole opened and Remus hurried over to the Marauders. He pulled them to a corner and said, "I think I might have found something."
"On what?" asked Peter.
Sirius rolled his eyes and said, "Stop being so thick, Wormtail. He's talking about Professor Peurom!"
"Oh," muttered Peter.
"Well, what'd you find?" asked James.
"Not so much on Peurom, but I found something as I was flipping through a book called, Mysteries of the Beyond," replied Remus.
"Sounds like Divination junk, if you ask me," cracked James.
"Actually, it delves into death and the line that separates it from the living. There are different chapters on how people have experimented with death, trying to push themselves to the brink and glimpse what is beyond while trying to come back and live," said Remus.
"No wonder it's in the Restricted Section," said Peter.
"What does this have to do with Peurom?" asked Sirius.
"I'm not sure, but there was a chapter on the Veil of the Dead. It describes a veil that was discovered over a thousand years ago. When people crossed through it they didn't come back," said Remus.
"A veil? You mean something that would look like a blanket?" asked James. Remus nodded. "That would explain what Peurom told me about his boggart, about how he was afraid of what was on the other side," James added.
"Exactly," said Remus. "Since people didn't come back, it was determined that the Veil was a threshold between life and death. It was used afterward for executions, up until ten or fifteen years ago. Once the dementors were placed at Azkaban the executions were replaced by the dementor's kiss. It did not specify where the Veil is now, but if it was used for executions I wonder if it's at the Ministry."
"Did it say anything else?" asked James.
"Yes, actually it did," said Remus. "There are those who have gotten close enough to the Veil without going through who claim to hear the voices of those who have passed through."
"Voices," said Sirius. He turned to James and said, "Peurom said he kept hearing voices that night after detention."
"Even if he's been near the Veil and has heard the voices," started James, "how would he hear them here at Hogwarts?"
"Probably off his rocker," said Sirius. "He said he'd been studying 'it' for some time. If he was that close to it for a long time he probably lost a few of his marbles, if you know what I mean."
"So that's it then? Peurom worked with the Veil?" asked Peter.
"We don't know that for sure," said James, "but I think it's a good theory. It's too bad Moony didn't find anything on Peurom."
"I did find something, but not in relation to the Veil," said Remus. "I was looking through a book on recent history, and found mention of a Lazarus Peurom. It said that he was an extraordinary wizard. He finished Hogwarts at the age of fifteen and was the youngest person accepted into auror training. He helped catch some of the darkest wizards at the time and was regarded as one of the bravest wizards of his time, next to Dumbledore, of course."
"What happened?" asked James. "Why haven't we heard of him before this year if he's so legendary?"
"He sort of disappeared off of the radar. I assume it happened around the time he became an Unspeakable," replied Remus.
"He doesn't seem so brave," said Peter. "He always looks like someone's going to jump at him from around a corner."
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A few days later James decided to linger after the DADA class finished. He told his friends he'd catch up with them, and pretended to be organizing the books in his bag. When he looked up he saw that it was only him and his professor still in the room. James gathered his bag and slowly approached the desk at the front where Peurom sat, reading over some essays.
"Professor?" asked James.
Peurom looked up, startled that someone was still in the room. "Yes, Mr. Potter?"
James hesitated before asking, "I-I heard that you were once an auror. Is that true?"
Peurom looked shocked and asked, "How did you know that?"
James had an excuse ready. "I thought I heard my dad mention something once."
"Your dad spoke to you about me?" Peurom asked, surprised.
"Not exactly," said James, trying to think fast. "I thought I remembered hearing him speak to my mum about you as an auror."
Peurom's eyes widened as he asked, "You're Joseph's son, aren't you? I knew your father, a long time ago when I was an auror. He was a good man."
James nodded silently.
Hesitantly, Professor Peurom asked, "How is Marianne?"
James looked at him in surprise and asked, "You knew my mum, too?"
Peurom looked at his desk and nervously shifted some papers before replying, "I worked with your dad here and there since we were both aurors. Therefore, the three of us met up at dinners and gatherings every so often."
There was an awkward silence as James absorbed what he had heard.
"Was there something else, Mr. Potter?" asked the professor.
Thinking back to his original purpose for approaching his professor, James said, "I've thought about becoming an auror, like my dad. Then I remembered that Professor Dumbledore said you had become an Unspeakable. I was wondering why you chose to do that and if that would be something I should look into someday. I mean, what kinds of things did you do as an Unspeakable?"
"That, Mr. Potter, I cannot go into detail on. There is a reason the place I worked in was called the Department of Mysteries," said Peurom.
James decided to push his luck. "What about the Veil?" he blurted.
Peurom paled and after a moment he shakily asked, "How did you know about that?"
"I-I heard a rumor of its existence. Then, after seeing your boggart, I kind of figured…" said James.
Peurom took a moment to compose his thoughts before saying, "You're a clever boy. What else have you figured out?"
"I heard you were a very respected auror, one of the bravest. Then you sort of disappeared. How did you go from one of the bravest aurors, to…erm…" James paused.
"A scared, cowardly man?" asked Peurom.
"Well, that's not what I meant, exactly," said James.
"It's okay, Mr. Potter. I'm well aware of who I am today," said Peurom.
James wondered if he should continue, but he figured if he had gotten this far already, he might as well ask more. "So what happened?"
Peurom didn't look like he was going to answer. James waited, staring at a smudge on the wall behind the professor. Finally Peurom stood up and said, "Mr. Potter, there was a time I was young and headstrong. I faced death every day and had no problem staring it straight in the eye. The problem is, the more you stare death in the eye, the more likely it is to stare right back at you." He gathered his things and walked away, but not before adding, "Don't forget about that chapter on vampires. We will be reviewing that in our next class. Good evening."
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A/N: Many of you can pat yourselves on the back for following the clues about Professor Peurom. Yes, his boggart was the Veil.
Answer to the latest bonus question on Peter's Apollo line: According to my source (The Sorcerer's Companion by Allan and Elizabeth Kronzck), the Apollo line is 'Sometimes known as the Line of the Sun. When it appears it's a sign of a capacity to enjoy life and derive satisfaction from work. In some systems, a long Apollo line indicates good luck.' I'll let you make your own interpretations about Peter's faint Apollo line. Kudos to delpheena - she was pretty accurate with her answer.
Thanks to my latest reviewers: Alicia, sista7, nanopy, delpheena, Mani12191, mystical cah, Golden Phoenix, hpfan88, Jo Bob, mrs. padfoot, hpfreak, hermionelover101, Potterhead, and Watermelon!
Next chapter: The students take their final exams.