November 1971
There was a plan. There’s always a plan. There always will be a plan. Despite the chaos and unorderly manner in which pranks were carried out, there always was a plan, albeit not always followed.
This time wasn’t any different.
There was a plan to see Remus’s reaction to silver.
And this time, it wasn’t any different.
Things had barely gone to plan.
-
“Okay once more.” James instructed a tired Sirius. They’d been rehearsing the plan for the last half hour and Sirius had enough. He was eager, bouncing his knee and kept zoning out. James didn’t want to mess this up, after all, it was important for everything to be perfect.
“Go on then. Not like anything I’ll say will stop you…” Sirius muttered under his breath. James ignored him entirely.
“Okay. We’ll bring him food from the hall and serve it to him while he’s still in the hospital wing. He most likely will be drowsy and won’t look down at his cutlery. Then, we’ll see if he reacts to the pure silver.”
The utensils in the hall were of some fake metal, it looked shiny, but Sirius’s expertise confirmed it contained no trace of silver at all. Which is why Sirius had also taken the liberty of organizing pure silver cutlery to be sent from home and it arrived a day earlier.
Though, some morals and ethics concerns did well, concern, James.
He didn’t like the idea of taking advantage of his friend who had been in the hospital wing, relying on the fact his mind was still foggy or whatever. But it didn’t bother Sirius at all. He waved all of James’s dilemmas off, saying he was overreacting or it’s not that big of a problem.
That’s who Sirius was really.
“Spot on, once again. Spot on. Great, someone get you a medal.”
“Appreciate it Sirius.”
They conversed more, arguing mostly. James wanted to wait an hour or too, Sirius wanted to get right to the chase. They should’ve managed their time better really, because the boy they were arguing about quite literally walked in the common room and sat next to James, lounging and stretching his arms and legs while James and Sirius tried to mask their shock.
“What’s up? It’s James who initiates the conversation. He tried to play it cool but he fails miserably.
“Nothing much. What you two been doing?”
It's Sirius’s turn now.
“Eh, the usual. Yip and yap.”
Sirius is much better liar then James.
“Cool.”
“Yeah, cool.”
“Real cool.”
There’s a pause or two, of awkwardness. Then James starts again.
“You’re out early?”
“Yeah. Did you not want me to?”
James couldn’t tell if Remus was being sarcastic or genuine.
“Nah. You shoulda told us so we’d come get you or whatever.”
Sirius was too good at this.
“Speaking of which…” Sirius continued, “you stay right there and I’ll get the three of us some pastries from the hall, yeah?”
Sirius didn’t wait for a response. He hurried left, grinning like a maniac. And then, it was just James and Remus.
“Merlin, he’s finally gone.” And then Remus rolled his head back, closing his eyes and resting. James sat there, uncomfortable the whole while.
-
Sirius had returned soon. James’s ignored Remus’s sour expression and instead tried to focus on the plan. Sirius had gotten three pastries of the same sort, and there the silver utensils were, reflective and shiny.
Sirius began passing the pastries out one by one. And then the utensils. He wanted to give it to Remus first, but Remus shook his head.
“No. These pastries can’t be eaten with a fork and knife. It has a hard outer layer; you’ve got to use your teeth.”
“Oh.” Sirius’s voice was soft and quiet. Remus began eating immediately while James’s just held it in his hands. It did look familiar though; James just couldn’t figure out from where he recognized it.
Remus ate in silence, and when he finished, he licked the chocolate off his fingers, declaring he had to catch up on homework and left James and Sirius.
“That was a bust.”
“I have another plan.”
Of course Sirius did.
-
New plan: Wait till Remus falls asleep, and then press a piece of silver against him
It was a horrible plan. And if Remus really was a werewolf, then they were essentially torturing him. Guilt pooled at James, and he was hesitant. But he couldn’t back out, Sirius was too convinced they had to do this. They agreed to compromise, to wait until the next moon in December.
So that night, James slept with a morally conflicting conscience.
-
It was the same dream he’d been having for a while now. The muggle boy who was getting yelled at by his mother, James offering him a cookie and the dream ending. But tonight, something was different. When it ended, a new dream began. And it had the same Barty boy.