End Scene (year 2)
“Don’t think this will always work,” Andy said bitterly, her arms crossed. The weather had gotten warmer now, and so she and Sirius were seated outside in the grass, watching as James taught Regulus a new spell. The smaller boy waved his wand wildly a few times, with only a small puff of smoke erupting, before grimacing and looking up at James expectantly. The bespectacled boy laughed and ruffled a startled Regulus’s hair.
Sirius glanced at his cousin, “What are you talking about?”
“You can’t just expect that every time you hurt someone you’ll be able to waltz back into their life without problems.” Andy explained raising her eyebrows, and watching the two boys, “Just because it worked this time it doesn’t mean that it was the right thing to do.”
Sirius sighed, “Look, I know, ok? I’ve apologized many times. I’m not planning on...on doing something like this again.”
“Meaning, avoiding the people you love, for months?”
Sirius glared at her, “Aren’t you at least a little bit happy I’m talking to you again?”
“Ah yes, your highness I’m so fortunate to be in your presence-”
“Oh shut up,” Sirius grumped.
“I am happy, Sirius.” Andy admitted, taking her eyes off of the other’s and looking at him, “But I just want you to understand that no matter what you do Regulus will come crawling back to you. Always.”
Sirius opened his mouth to say something but she shushed him.
“He’ll always look up to you because you’re his older brother Sirius. He’ll always want to be like you. Want to be respected by you.” Her grey eyes pierced into his, “That’s not a good thing.”
Sirius ripped his gaze away from her, “Fine.”
“Just keep that in mind.” She said, “Not everyone will be as forgiving as your brother. And not everyone should be.” She looked back at the youngest Black, “Especially not him.”
Sirius tried not to feel too insulted. She had valid reasons, she was...right. Probably.
All around them people had gathered, to watch the spectacle that was now Remus whispering things into Regulus’s ear before helping him fire blue hexes at an unsuspecting James.
James yelled out but all four of them were laughing. There was a sort of jealousy in the air. By now everyone knew the marauders. Everyone had always known James Potter for his energetic confidence, and troublemaking smile. Everyone had always known Sirius Black for his name, his arrogance and his mischief making. They were a sort of double act. But now everyone knew about Remus and Peter too. The two boys they always spent their time with. The one that was good at sneaking around teachers, and rules, and the one that was good at keeping the others in check. Although the four of them were only in second year everyone knew that they were the ones in charge of all the pranks during the school year, and now everyone knew them and referred to them as the “Marauders” which up until recently had only been a name the four of them called themselves.
It was a big deal to befriend the marauders. If you befriended one of them, you had to befriend all of them, and as if that wasn’t hard enough they were like a unit. Always whispering, always exchanging glances, and looks, always getting in trouble, always laughing.
And now they were spending time with a Slytherin? It was strange to say the least, even when that Slytherin was Sirius's brother.
Sirius glanced at his cousin and caught her smiling ever so slightly.
“So you don’t hate me!” Sirius said delightedly, “That’s a relief.”
“Don’t get too excited, just yet.” Andy said though she was smirking, “There’s always the chance that you might mess up again.”
“Touche.”
_ _ _ _
The next few weeks went by rather uneventfully. The weather continued to grow warmer and more pleasant, Lily and Remus were on good terms again, and Regulus was now spending more time with the marauders. The five of them didn’t eat meals together as the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables were separated but every few weeks the marauders would visit the younger Black in the library, or sit with him outside in the fields.
Remus had now taken it upon himself to tutor Regulus in charms, as he was falling behind, and James and Peter were trying to corrupt him by teaching him the most jinxes they possibly could.
James was also still on a mission to impress Lily Evans, and although that didn’t seem to be working for him, he never once lost confidence or faith.
“She’ll like me one day,” He assured the marauders while they sat in their dorm, one Thursday evening, “She will.”
“And what makes you think that?” Remus asked, smirking. “The loving way she tells you to piss off?”
Peter and Sirius laughed, but James just shook his head seriously, “No! No, haven’t you noticed? She only jinxed me once this month! This whole month! That’s a serious improvement! Last month she jinxed me three times. That's barely anything.”
“That's pathetic,” Remus snorted.
"It's not-"
“Alright, alright Potter.” Sirius rolled his eyes, “We get it- you're hopelessly in love.”
“What about you then?” Peter asked suddenly, eyeing his other two friends, “Do either of you...you know. Fancy anyone?”
James opened his mouth.
“Other than you, James.”
They all laughed again, but Sirius and Remus just shook their heads.
“No one’s caught my eye yet.” Sirius shrugged, “I reckon I’m just too good for everyone here.”
“Very funny.”
“I don’t…” Remus looked uncomfortable, “I’m not really into...like girls...and stuff…I just...get nervous and..I dunno...I suppose I don’t understand the appeal.”
James suddenly looked very uncomfortable too, “Er….we don’t have to talk about this right now, Rem. How about we talk about...er...Quidditch!”
“You always want to talk about Quidditch,” Peter muttered.
“Wait, hold on what am I missing here?” Sirius asked a small smile forming on his lips, “What are you two hiding?”
“Hiding?” James squeaked in a very non James way. “Us? Nothing.”
Remus looked at James and then back at Sirius, “Er….I don’t think we’re hiding anything…”
Sirius raised an eyebrow, “Oh yeah? Tell that to Potter. He’s sweating buckets.”
James took a deep breath, “If any of you….perhaps...didn’t fancy….er…” He looked like he was struggling with his words very heavily, “Perhaps you’re not...er...into girls...maybe you don’t really...find girls attractive….romantically...or...um….you know...sexually...”
“...What?” The others blinked at him, “Mate, what are you saying?”
James pushed up his glasses, “Er...right….so….it’s really ok, if you’re not….er...if you don’t really...like….uhh...females, right?”
Peter tilted his head to the side, “...ok.”
“We already said we’re not into any girls at the moment,” Remus said knitting his eyebrows, “I’m not sure I understand.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Sirius said.
“Er….” James wasn’t looking any of them in the eye, “Ok. Uh…” He raised a hand to his forehead, “Say for example….you’re not into girls...at the moment...but...maybe the moment...doesn’t come?”
“...so...being single you mean?” Sirius clarified.
“...so you’re saying it’s ok to be single?” Remus asked.
“No.” James breathed out, “I mean yes. It is. Obviously. But if you were into...um...you know...not girls….then that would be ok too.”
“Right, yes, that makes sense.” Peter said nodding supportively, “Sure. I agree.”
“Do you know what he’s saying?” Sirius whispered.
“No,” Pete admitted whispering back, “But I think if we nod he’ll stop.”
“Right.” Sirius nodded, before turning to the black haired boy, “Yes. I understand, Potter.”
“...yes.” Remus nodded too, “Good. That needed saying.”
James looked relieved. He grinned at Remus, “Really?”
“Er….yes.” Remus said, “Thank you for saying that.”
“Oh thank Merlin.” James wiped his glasses on his shirt, “That means a lot coming from you Remu. Not that that means anything!”
The others just blinked at him.
“Yeah, no problem,” Remus assured him, trying to seem like he had the slightest inkling of what was going on.
“You know I’m not good with words…” James continued to ramble, “But I support you...all of you…”
“Right,” Remus said, as he, Peter, and Sirius all shared a look of confusion.
“How about we go to bed?” Sirius suggested after a moment, “We’ve got charms first thing tomorrow.”
“Yeah, sure.” Remus and Peter agreed, eyeing James, before slipping into their beds, “I think we could all use some sleep…”
James nodded, with his lips pursed.
_ _ _ _
Another few weeks came and went, along with another full moon. In May Remus returned to class after almost a full week of missing it, and he could feel not only Sirius’s, and Lily’s eyes on him but also James’s. He tried not to focus too much on it though, and instead focused on forcing his trembling hands to take notes of what Professor McGonagall was saying. He was aware of a new scar that had appeared on the back of his neck and although it was small and it could only be seen when you were really looking, which people rarely did with Remus, he was still nervous. Especially now that he knew James and Lily were staring at him. Could they see the scar? Were they wondering how he got it? Halfway through the lecture, his pathetic attempts of writing got interrupted by James who was sitting behind him.
Professor McGonagall had just been in the middle of explaining something especially boring about one of the first transfigurations ever to have occurred when James let out a loud, “OHHHHHH….”
Everybody in the class turned around to stare at him, including the rest of the marauders who weren’t used to being surprised by one of their own. Sirius gave him a questioning look.
“That makes so much sense….” James mused, running a hand through his hair, apparently not noticing or not caring that the whole class was paying attention to him. He had a sort of amused smile on his face, and his glasses were askew.
“Would you like to share with the rest of the class Mr Potter?” McGonagall asked, raising an eyebrow.
James seemed to snap out of it, “No no,” He moved his hands as though he was swatting away a fly, “I think I’m ok, thanks, Minnie.”
She pursed her lips, “Ten points from Gryffindor for disrupting class. -And, Mr Potter-” She sighed and turned her back on them to write something on the chalkboard, “Detention.”
James just gave her a thumbs up.
_ _ _ _
“So, when were you going to tell us?”
A few days after that incident, when everyone had already forgotten about it, the marauders were sitting in the comfort of their dorm. Sirius and Peter were working on a late homework assignment and Remus was continuing to work on the map he had told them about. James was sitting on his bed, with his legs crossed.
Everyone looked up at him when he spoke.
“When were you two going to tell me and Pete?” He specified when no one said anything. He nudged an elbow in the direction of the smallest boy and started to grin. “Come on….you didn’t think we’d never find out right? I mean admittedly it took me a while but…”
“Tell you?” Sirius asked. He looked at the blonde boy next to him who shrugged and took a sip of his juice box, that Sirius had smuggled out of the kitchen for him, “Tell you...what exactly?”
Remus didn’t say anything. His eyes were trained on James with such an intensity he looked like he was calculating space travel.
James grinned at them and knit his eyebrows, “That Remus is a werewolf of course.”
Peter choked on his drink.
_ _ _ _
“Peter I’m about to tell you something, which you can’t tell anyone. Understood? Not even Remus or Sirius.”
It had been the day after James’s strange outburst in the middle of class and Peter had looked nervous, which was understandable, given the fact that James never used this serious of a tone with the smaller boy.
James hadn’t been smiling, “Understood, Peter?”
Peter had nodded, “Yes,”
James had taken a deep breath, “This is going to sound….strange to you. But I’m going to tell you something about Remus. Something not many people know.”
Peter had looked uncomfortable, “Shouldn’t...Remus be the one to tell me?”
James had adjusted his glasses. He had seemed almost like a different person. Too...mature, “Remus won’t tell us. This isn’t...this isn’t like a normal secret. This isn’t one you usually share. But...I found out.”
“Why can’t I tell Sirius?”
James had never looked like this before. His forehead was crinkled, his eyes were focused on the ground as if trying to pierce a hole through the floorboards, his lips were drawn in a tight line, “Sirius knows.”
Peter looked as though he had been punched, “What do you mean? He tells me- US everything!
“He couldn’t tell us this...I don’t blame him. I just told you because...I didn’t want you to be the only one who didn’t know.”
Peter didn’t say anything.
“I didn’t want to find out,” James admitted, and his eyes looked glassy in the candlelight. “I knew...I knew something was happening but I didn’t want to find out. Because once you know something you can’t unknow it. And I didn’t want that responsibility. But it hit me. All of a sudden it hit me. And it makes sense you know?”
“No...What are you talking about?”
James didn’t say anything. He looked shaken.
“What’s the secret, James?”
The bespectacled boy met Peter’s eyes, “Remus is a werewolf.”
“You think Remus is a...werewolf?” Sirius opened and closed his mouth a few times, and looked over at Remus, “What? No….No...what are you- why would you say that?”
James stared at Sirius intensely, not buying his act, “It wasn’t too hard to figure it out. I should’ve been quicker to it, but I didn’t want to disrupt anyone’s privacy. I thought maybe there was something I was missing.”
Remus’s mouth was opened slightly, and his eyes looked like little shards of glass that were all stuck together in random order.
“I realised right in the middle of transfiguration when McGonagall said that thing about her cat form disliking dogs, right? And I thought about, like, just a bigass dog,” James reached his hands out to demonstrate just how big he meant, “And that made me think of a wolf, right? Wolves are basically big-ass dogs.”
The others blinked at him.
“That’s...really elaborate...and weird…” Sirius muttered.
James ignored him, “And then I thought it would be funny to turn into a dog, to annoy McGonogall’s cat form, right? And that made me think of turning into wolves, which made me think of werewolves. Well and also Remus had a new scar on the back of his neck, but you know-- Remus….are you alright?”
Admittedly, Peter hadn’t taken the news all too well at first.
“What.” He had stared at James, his eyes unblinking.
James had nodded grimly. After a moment of silence he had put up his arms in a weak attempt at Jazz hands, as to try and lighten the mood.
Peter wasn’t having it.
“He’s...a….what.”
James had scrunched up his face in a way that he often did, and he’d pushed up his glasses. “I’ll just give you a moment.”
“I’ve been sharing a dorm room for two years with a what?” And NO ONE was going to tell me?
By this point, Peter had gotten up from his seat and was pacing around the room. “So...he’s...a...werewolf?”
James had nodded.
“Remus Lupin?”
“The very one.”
“Our Remus Lupin? The one that drinks tea every morning?”
“...British werewolf, hehe. Amirite, Pete? Heh…” James laughed a bit but stopped at Peter’s face expression. “...Sorry.”
“Remus Lupin….the nerd....who always has sweaty hands? The one who apologized to the stairs when he tripped on them?….That Remus?”
James had just shrugged, “...I’m not sure if I should even answer at this point.”
“-You’re trying to tell me that, this child, turns into a murderous beast every month?”
James pushed up his glasses. “...Yes?”
But after a while, Peter had grown quite used to the idea.
“Do you think that’s how he got those scars?” Peter had asked during Herbology, that same day.
“Yes.” James had answered, flipping a page in his textbook.
“Do you think he’s ever eaten, anyone?” Peter had asked while they searched for cranberry juice in the kitchens, that evening.
“No.” James had answered, closing a drawer.
“Do you think he named the wolf?” Peter had asked swinging his feet off of the desk during detention, the next day.
“I dunno, Pete.” James had sighed, resting his head in his hands.
“Do you think his mum knows that he’s exploiting her illness so that he can leave Hogwarts during the full moons?” Peter had asked, picking up James’s broom, after Quidditch practice the next day.
“Mate...I don’t think his mum is ill.” James had answered, ripping off his Quidditch uniform.
“Oh.”
“Do you think-” Peter had started the following day, as soon as Remus had left the room to go to the bathroom.
“Alright, that’s it.” James had snapped his book shut. “We’re telling them.”
Remus was still in the same shocked position as he had been when James first started talking, except that his whole body had started to tremble slightly.
“Remus?”
Peter reached out a hand to touch Remus’s shoulder and as soon as he did the young werewolf jumped up from his seat and flew out of the dorm room. The other three jumped up but before they could register anything the door slammed shut.
“Oh shit.” James muttered, “I don’t think he really wanted us finding out huh?”
Sirius sighed, “No shit, Potter you twit.
Sirius was right when he had said that Remus was most likely to be at the astronomy tower. The three of them had waited a few minutes before making their way there, and prodding open the door slowly, in order to see Remus sitting on the ground of the astronomy tower, his knees drawn up to his chin. He jumped when the door opened, and Sirius entered.
Remus’s face was paler than Sirius had ever seen it, and the shadows under his eyes stood out prominently, his lips twitching and his chest rising and falling so quickly that Sirius wasn’t sure how the other boy was getting any air at all. Sirius stepped forward and as soon as he did Remus pulled out his wand, holding it up in front of him like a barrier between the two boys, but his hand shook so violently that the tip of the wand wasn’t focused on anything or anyone in particular. The smaller boy’s eyes were filled with tears as he gasped for breath, almost gagging.
“Don’t!” He yelled, surprisingly forcefully, his eyes focused on a spot by Sirius’s feet. “Leave- Leave me alone!”
Sirius stepped forward and put his palms up facing Remus. “Shhhhh….”
Remus continued to suck in breaths, his face turning whiter, by the second.
“Remus…” Sirius whispered, the scene feeling oddly familiar. It was strange being on the other side of the situation, “You’re having a panic attack.” He remembered the feeling of not being able to breathe.
“Try to match your breathing to mine, ok?” Sirius said looking into Remus’s eyes.
Remus didn’t say anything but gradually his breathing slowed.
“It’s ok Remus,” Sirius whispered. He gasped, as all of the sudden, as Remus’s hand reached out and grabbed a hold of Sirius’s shirt.
The smaller boy wasn’t looking at Sirius but instead somewhere on the floor to his right. His mouth was slightly open and Sirius could see a tad of drool sticking out from the corner of his lips. He looked absolutely exhausted. Sirius moved his arm slightly, but Remus continued to hold onto his shirt as if his life was depending on it.
“I’m sorry..” Remus said finally, his fist clenching and unclenching softly. Sirius looked up at him and frowned. “I won’t be able to tell you about the stars anymore…”
Sirius felt his stomach drop, “Stop it. They won’t tell anyone, Rem. They don’t even care.”
Remus didn’t say anything.
"They're marauders." Sirius reminded him, "We stick together."
“Hey, can we come in?” James called from the door tentatively.
Sirius hesitated, as Remus’s body stiffened, but after a moment, he called, “Yes.”
James and Peter trodded into the room clumsily, “Hey there…”
“What’s up little duck, amirite?” James laughed nervously sensing the energy, as very much drained. He cleared his throat, “...Sorry.”
Remus finally looked up at the other marauders. “I’m sorry.” He whispered so quietly they had to strain to hear it.
“You’re sorry?” James asked in disbelief, “What on earth do you have to be sorry for?”
Remus’s eyes widened in confusion, “You’re not….angry at me?”
“What?” James seemed so genuinely confused Sirius almost wanted to laugh. “Why would we be angry at you?”
“You’re still the same old Remus you always were,” Peter said, offering a smile. “And we could never be angry at him.”
“I’m...but I’m…”
“You’re you.” James said simply, “You’re Remus.”
“But...you’re pureblood…” Remus muttered, “You...don’t you hate...isn’t your family against…”
“What?” James scrunched his eyebrows together, “My family? My parents don’t give a rats ass about this pureblood stuff. My dad’s best friend’s nanny had an uncle who was a werewolf and he came to our house for dinner once. He was weird as shit, mind you,” James pushed up his glasses thoughtfully, “But he was the one who first told me that joke about the fish and the bowtie. You know the ‘what do you call a fish wearing a bowtie...sofishticated.’ That one?”
Remus stared at James at a loss for words, so the black haired boy just continued talking, his brown eyes glowing in the dark.
“He was the only werewolf I ever knew before you though, so it was kind of hard to believe at first. He was big and hairy and strong, and he had a loudass laugh, and he kept high fiving me at every little thing-”
“You met a werewolf...before me…?” Remus asked in astonishment.
James smiled, “Yeah.”
There was a moment of silence, and Remus felt something open his chest. When he looked over at his friend, with his messy black curls, and his glasses that looked like they were about to fall off of his face, and his smile that could light up every room in the castle, Remus couldn't help but feel incredibly grateful. What had he done to deserve a friend like James?
James glanced at Sirius helplessly and then at Remus, “...His name was Steve.”
“...You...you didn’t...hate him…?”
“No, of course not. Steve was cool.”
“You don’t...hate...me…?”
“No!” James laughed, “Of course not. You’re not nearly as big or hairy as Steve was, and you’re you know...you’re scared of pineapples for Merlin's sake.”
“They eat you back…” Remus muttered almost as an explanation, with a haunted look in his eyes.
“But yeah…” James concluded, “You’re cool. Steve’s cool. It just took me a while to realise. Besides werewolves are pretty rare these days…I would’ve thought it more likely that Sirius is a vampire-”
“ONE time!” Sirius yelled, “I pointed out I don’t like garlic ONE time!”
James laughed, and Peter snorted, and suddenlty they were all laughing and when Sirius looked over he could see tears of relief rolling down Remus’s face as he shook with laughter too.
_ _ _ _
“Is it...hard?” James asked after a while when the marauders were sitting on the windowsill of the tower. They looked down at the hard ground that seemed so far away from where they were sitting.
Remus didn’t answer for a moment and breathed in the warm wind, that blew in through the open window.
“Yes.” He whispered, “It never gets easier.”
The others didn’t know what to say to that. Sirius never wanted to hear that tired sound in Remus’s voice ever again. He hadn't really spoken to Remus about his lycanthropy so far. The only times they ever discussed it was when Sirius was trying to convince the younger boy to tell the other marauders. Apparently, there wasn’t any use for that anymore anyway.
“I’m sorry,” James said, genuinely.
Remus shrugged and looked away, “Nothing can be done about it.”
“When’s um….when…” Peter seemed to struggle with how to word his question, “When’s you’re next….transformation…”
Remus giggled slightly, “I usually just called it...the full moon. It’s...in a few days.”
They all turned to look outside where they could see the moon hanging in the sky like an orb of light, looming over them.
“Easy.” James said sitting up, and rolling off of the window sill. He picked up something from the ground, “All we need to do is get rid of the moon.”
Sirius laughed, “Oh yeah, Potter?”
“Yup.” James tossed what he was holding into the air and they could see that it was a simple rock. He pulled his hand back and then threw the rock as far as he could into the night sky at the direction of the moon. “Take that you fucker!”
The rock fell to the ground pathetically.
“You really showed that moon,” Remus said dryly.
Peter and Sirius snorted.
James didn’t seem fazed, “Fuck the moon, Rem. You said it’s hard right?”
Remus’s face darkened, “Yes.”
James stared at him intensely, “I would destroy the moon for you, Loony. You know that right? I would destroy it for any of you.”
The others didn’t know how to respond to that. It was sweet, somehow. It was very….James of him. He had such a great heart that he would come up with weird things like this, and such a huge ego that he probably believed he could do it. On top of that he was also so intelligent that maybe he would find a way. James always found a way somehow.
“It never gets easier right?” James said with a far away look in his eyes, “...Aren’t you angry?”
Remus's eyes widened. “Angry?”
The others looked at him expectantly.
“Angry? No.” He pursed his lips, “Sometimes I get sad...or frustrated...or...I don’t know. But angry? No…”
“That’s bullshit,” Sirius said.
“You have anger inside that little body of yours I can feel it!” James said, “I know it’s there!”
Remus rolled his eyes, “It’s not.”
“Fuck you moon!” James yelled again, louder this time, “Fuck you!”
Sirius jumped up too, “Yeah! Fuck you, you glowing piece of shit!”
“Yeah!” Peter jumped up, wanting to join in, “You’re just….a sun rip off!”
Remus laughed, but got off of the window sill too, “So we’re just assaulting a moon now?”
“Come on, Remus. You must feel angry.”
“I don’t,” Remus said, shrugging.
“Fuck you, moon!” James repeated again.
“Fuck you! I failed my potions project because of your cycle!” Peter yelled.
Slowly something seemed to shift in Remus’s stance.
It wasn’t the moon’s fault. He knew that, obviously. It was just a gigantic rock in the sky. It had never hurt him and it never would, but then again….it was like a symbol. It was the last thing he saw every month before the wolf ripped him to shreds. It was always there no matter what happened. No matter where he was, or what time it was he knew it would be there up above watching him, like a ticking bomb. Soon, it told him, soon you would go through the pain again. And again. And again.
He stepped forward and leaned out of the window next to the others. “Fuck you.” He said quietly.
“What?” The others shouted, grinning at him.
“Fuck you.” He said louder.
It was always there. It would always be there. It would always be ticking in the back of his mind, reminding him of what he was.
“What was that?” James yelled.
“Fuck you!” Remus called into the night. “Fuck you, moon!”
And suddenly he could feel it. The anger.
“FUCK YOU!”
“Damn, right, Lupin!”
He leaned out of the window even more, “FUCK YOU! EVERYTHING- EVERYTHING HURTS!” Remus could feel his throat start to tensen up, as his vocal cords stung.
Screw the moon.
Remus hated it.
Remus hated always being in pain, Remus hated always being ill, Remus hated his scars, he hated his body because of them, he hated that his parents always worried he hated that his friends would worry too now, he hated that he had to hide for so long, he hated that he would never get a real job, a real partner, a real...life.
“FUCK YOU! YOU STOLE IT!” Remus shouted into the night, “YOU STOLE MY LIFE!”
The others hollered and clapped his back, as he stood on the stone window sill, and held onto the edge of the stone wall so hard, that his hands started to bleed. And soon the four of them were just screaming into the air as loudly as they could, no one really understanding what the others were saying, and no one really knowing whether they were speaking actual words anymore anyway.
And suddenly Remus felt lighter. He didn’t think he had anger inside of him, but the others had been right. He was angry.
He was so goddamn angry.
“Oh shit.”
Remus turned around at the sound of James’s voice and saw a figure standing at the door of the astronomy tower. Oh shit, was right.
“Would you four care to explain?” Professor McGonagall had never sounded so utterly confused, and so utterly tired before. And that was saying something.
“We were just…” James looked back at the window and then at their teacher standing in front of them, “...you know like...Therapy? Therapeutic...uh...therapeutic screaming...? Um….mental health awareness?...No?”
“Detention.”
The four of them sighed in unison.
"Don't give me that." She said and sighed even louder.
"Well, no need to show off," Peter murmured, as he jumped down from the windowsill.
“Sweet dreams, Minnie.” Sirius yawned as they passed her, on the way down the stairs.
“50 points from Gryffindor.” She responded, but nevertheless, she patted his head, lightly.
“Yeah, yeah we know the drill,” James said good naturedly. “Good night, Minnie!”
“Don’t let the bed bugs bite professor!” Peter added as they left.
"Goodnight Professor," Remus said politely, trying to ignore the fact that she had just walked in on them yelling at the sky.
McGonagall rolled her eyes but she didn’t say anything after that.
"She loves us," James said smugly later that night.
"Definitely." Sirius confirmed.