shrieking shack
The story, as Remus had pieced it together, went as follows.
Sirius (and likely James) had laced liquor with veritaserum for the party that night. Most of the Gryffindors had gotten drunk, a few of them drinking the veritaserum. Sirius unknowingly drank a shot of it. When truth or dare started, Sirius attempted to embarrass one of the Slytherin guests- a young blonde girl- by forcing her to reveal her crush. Then, as some sort of revenge, she’d asked Sirius about his abandoning of the Black family that past summer, and he’d spilled that he’d had a fight with his mother where she nearly killed him.
James had stopped him from elaborating by starting a fight with Caradoc, and Sirius had rushed into the bathroom. Which was where the story picked up for Remus.
He wasn’t sure how to feel about his interaction with Sirius, nor was he sure how to feel about his own behavior that night.
Sirius Black was an idiot. There was no doubt about it. Lacing alcohol with veritaserum was so cartoonishly irresponsible Remus may not have believed it if it weren’t for- well, the veritaserum. Sirius and James could- should, probably- get expelled.
They wouldn’t, of course, because there wasn’t a shred of evidence that they’d done it, nor was there a single Gryffindor willing to snitch on the two most popular boys of their class.
Yeah, Sirius was an idiot. If Remus hadn’t been sure of it before, now he was even certain. Whatever embarrassment he’d endured that night, he deserved it tenfold. All Remus had to do- all he should’ve done- was chastise him for his idiocy and leave him in the bathroom for whatever emotional breakdown he was going to have. But, for some reason, he hadn’t.
In five years at Hogwarts, Remus had encountered plenty of drunken students in the bathroom. He’d witnessed plenty of embarrassed, hysterical tears. He’d wrinkled his nose in disgust and slipped out of the bathroom as many a drunken student puked their guts out in the stalls.
Never once had he stayed and held their hair away from their face. Never once had he told them his own embarrassing stories to make them feel better, or played his music for them. Remus didn’t know how to handle people, he didn’t know how to comfort them when they were upset. So why had he done it last night, and why had it come so naturally to him?
Perhaps it was the irregularity of the situation. Sirius Black was never like that. Sirius Black upset was about as rare a sight as Remus Lupin at a Gryffindor party. There was just something off about it. Perhaps it was a pure, aesthetic desire to set things right that motivated Remus’s attempts to make him feel better.
And everything else Sirius had said that night… well, it was just drunken ramblings. Nothing to be read into.
It was Lily who had given Remus the rest of the story, after he had deposited Sirius in his room and helped him take his shoes off and hang his jacket (it had to be on a hanger , Sirius had insisted through his drunken haze, so as not to mess it up). James was there too, passed out on his own bed with smashed up glasses and what looked like the start of a black eye. Remus had winced at the sight, but done nothing. He’d taken care of enough idiots for the night.
He returned to his and Peter’s room to Lily’s excited recap of the night’s events. He gave his own summary of the encounter with Sirius in the bathroom, leaving out a few details. They didn’t need to know everything- especially the walkman bit- they’d only tease him about it.
Lily had shyly inquired about James’s well-being when Remus explained his visit to Sirius’s room.
“He jumped up and punched Caradoc without even hesitating,” Lily said, a hint of wistfulness in her tone. “It was actually rather sweet, don’t you think, that he would defend his friend like that?”
Remus and Peter exchanged a look.
“Hey! Don’t do that!” Lily cried. “He’s still a prat! I’m just saying!” She whirled on Remus. “How about you, huh? Hanging out with Sirius in the bathroom? You keep insisting that you two aren’t friends.”
Merlin, here we go.
“We’re not,” Remus sighed. “We barely even talked in there. He was throwing up.”
“Y’know,” Peter said. “I came into the room the other day and Sirius and Remus were practically wrestling on the floor.”
“They were what?” Lily shrieked, leaping up from her spot on Remus’s bed.
“We were not wrestling,” Remus said.
“Oh my god, are you two really becoming friends?” Lily said.
“Are you replacing James Potter?” Peter added.
“No, I’m not, and we’re not friends!” Remus cried. His cheeks were heating up like he was blushing. “Merlin, can you two leave it alone?”
“What happened in the bathroom?” Peter asked, leaning in. “Did he tell you what happened?”
“No,” Remus said, glad to have a question he could answer honestly. “He just said he embarrassed himself.”
“Did you ask him anything about, y’know…?”
Remus stared blankly at Lily and Peter, who were leaning towards him with bright, engaged eyes. “I don’t know, actually.”
“Y’know… the incident. His mom trying to kill him.”
“I didn’t even know about that until Lily told me. He just said he was embarrassed.”
“But he was on veritaserum,” Peter said. “You could’ve gotten all the details.”
Remus frowned. “Why would I do that? It’s not fair. You wouldn’t want someone asking you all these personal questions on veritaserum, would you?”
Peter and Lily exchanged another look.
“I mean, yeah, Remus,” said Lily. “But neither of us would ever lace anyone’s liquor with veritaserum. Sirius put himself in that situation. I mean, he kinda deserved it.”
Peter nodded in agreement.
Remus agreed in concept. Yes, Sirius was an idiot. Yes, he deserved his comeuppance for what he’d done, but still… to have your entire school talking about your personal family issues, especially when those family issues were that your own mother tried to kill you? It sounded like a nightmare. He wouldn’t wish that on Sirius.
On anyone, he meant. He wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
“You should’ve seen that poor girl, Remus,” Lily added, shaking her head. “Her face was so red. He completely embarrassed her. Poor thing. She seemed so sweet, too.”
Remus frowned at the thought. He’d heard the word bully attached to Sirius a few times before, but he had yet to truly experience or witness any signs of such behavior. Pranks and stupidity, sure, but maliciousness? Remus found that difficult to imagine. Perhaps there was just another side of Sirius he hadn’t seen yet.
“What exactly happened?” he asked Lily. “With the girl, I mean.”
“I wasn’t paying much attention,” Lily admitted. “I was hanging out with Mary. He just sort of picked her out of nowhere and asked her truth or dare. She looked really nervous. I don’t know if she knew about the veritaserum thing, but she’d definitely taken it. He asked her who the fittest boy in her grade was and she said Regulus Black.”
Peter let out a bark of surprised laughter. “She said Regulus? Merlin, that’s ironic.”
Remus couldn’t resist a smile at the thought.
“I know,” Lily said, grinning. “Everybody was laughing. I felt bad, ‘cause she was embarrassed, but Merlin, it was so funny. Everyone started arguing about who was handsomer, Regulus or Sirius.”
Remus scoffed. “Sirius, of course.”
There was a brief pause in which Peter and Lily exchanged another one of their looks. Merlin, he was really starting to hate those looks.
“Very quick with that one, mate,” Peter said.
Lily smirked.
“It’s just objective,” Remus said defensively.
“I feel like a girl would know better than you, mate,” said Peter. “Y’know, someone who’s actually into blokes.”
Remus and Peter’s gazes both fell onto Lily, appealing to the only girl’s final authority.
“God, don’t look at me!” she cried. “They’re both very handsome.”
“She can’t answer,” Peter said to Remus. “She only has eyes for Potter.”
“Hey!” Lily cried.
Remus laughed, delighted that the teasing had switched sides.
“But what happened then, Lily?” Peter asked suddenly. “Is that when she asked him what happened with his family?”
“Yeah,” Lily nodded. “As like, revenge, I guess. For embarrassing her. She seemed really mad.”
“And what did he say? Exactly?”
“I believe his words were, ‘I got in a fight with my mother and she nearly killed me.’” Lily said thoughtfully. “I may be wrong, though. A lot was happening. Either way, everyone’s going to be talking about it today. I’m sure there’ll be a million different versions of the story.”
“What do you think she meant, nearly killed him?”
“Beats me,” said Lily. “All those Blacks are crazy. I wouldn’t put it past her.”
“Like, she threatened to? Or she actually did something?”
“Maybe she forced him to leave so she could make Regulus the heir. Like, she’d kill him if he refused to go. Or maybe she actually attacked him physically.”
“You really think she would? I mean… that’s her kid!”
“Again, wouldn’t put it past her. Some parents are just like that. Especially those Black maniacs.”
“Merlin, I wonder what it was like growing up in that house.”
“God, I know. I bet-“
“Guys!” Remus shouted, putting a sudden stop to their frantic theorizing. Both pairs of eyes shot over to him and he lowered his voice, a bit sheepishly. “We shouldn’t be talking about this.”
Peter raised his eyebrows. “Everyone is.”
“Yeah, and they shouldn’t! It’s messed up! I mean, listen to yourselves! His own mom tried to kill him. He didn’t want anyone to know, and now everybody does. I know he had it coming with the whole veritaserum thing, but… come on. This isn’t fair.”
Lily and Peter looked at each other, cowed.
“You’re right,” Lily conceded first. “He was a proper git to that sweet girl, but still. It’s none of our business.”
Remus’s outburst had dampened the mood a little bit, and a few minutes later Lily returned to her own room, promising to meet Peter and Remus for breakfast the next morning. Remus and Peter prepared for bed in silence. It was only when they had turned the lights off and Remus was staring at the ceiling thinking about the night’s events that Peter spoke again. His voice was softer than usual, tinged with impending sleep.
“Hey, Remus?’
“Yeah?”
“Remember that… poetry society… that you and Sirius were talking about? That you asked me to be in?”
Remus rolled his eyes at the reminder. “You mean the one you agreed to be in despite never having read poetry before in your life?”
“Er- yeah. That one.” It was dark in the room, but Remus could picture the unsure, sheepish smile on Peter’s face. “I was thinking, y’know how you said you needed a place to do it? How you didn’t have anywhere secret to do the meetings?”
Remus frowned. What sort of secret location could Peter know about that Remus himself hadn’t heard of? “Sure,” he said.
“Well, I… don’t get mad.”
“What do you mean, ‘don’t get mad?’” Remus asked defensively, his tone growing harsh.
“Don’t do that!” Peter cried.
Remus sighed. He had been in a rather foul mood these past few days. The full moon had been two nights before, and although it’d been a relatively easy one physically, it still left him in that typical annoyed, upset mood that Peter never seemed to have gotten used to. He was a sensitive bloke, and never seemed to have grown out of it.
“Okay, okay, sorry,” he said. “Just say it. I won’t get mad.”
“Why not the Shrieking Shack?”
Remus shot up in bed. “The Shrieking Shack? Have you lost your mind?”
“You just said you wouldn’t get mad!”
“Well-” Remus stopped himself before he could continue. It was a horrible idea, but… it could work. He paused, the obvious question springing into his mind. “What about when it’s the full moon?”
“We just won’t meet on full moons,” said Peter. “It’s simple.”
“But…” Remus began. He didn’t quite know how to explain how he felt about the idea. It would work in theory, but the Shrieking Shack was an awful place. Those walks to the Shrieking Shack a few hours before the full moon came up- cold, shaking with dread, trapped inside his animal body with no way of stopping what was to come- were the very worst moments of Remus’s life. The Shrieking Shack was not a place for poetry or friends or happiness. It was a place for misery. But he didn’t know how to explain that feeling. He had never spoken extensively of his affliction to Peter. To anybody, really.
“Remus,” Peter said. “I was just thinking that maybe- maybe if you made some happy memories in there, it wouldn't be such an awful place.”
Merlin, Peter knew him well. Disturbingly well. For all his awkwardness, he possessed far more emotional intelligence than people gave him credit for.
And, Remus had to admit, the idea made some sense. It wasn’t too far from the castle, only he knew how to get there… it would work. At the same time, it was risky. Say one day James and Sirius decided to go down there by themselves and it just so happened to be a full moon- that was a disaster just waiting to happen.
But still, he couldn’t help but wonder… would walks to the Shrieking Shack be so bad if he began to associate them with reading poetry with friends and not turning into a murderous monster?
“It’s not a terrible idea, Peter,” said Remus finally. “I’ll think about it.”
Peter said nothing, but Remus could just picture the victorious smile on his face as he stared up at his dim ceiling.
Remus was surprised- impressed, even- to see Sirius at breakfast the next morning. He’d supposed he would need at least a day to lick his wounds after the night’s events, but he showed up to great hall the next morning with the same confidence in his gait, the only sign of his embarrassment being the obvious headache he was nursing- squinty-eyed and avoiding the light. One would think James had had the worse night, as he looked absolutely terrible. Both lenses of his glasses were cracked, a black eye and a bruised cheek beneath them, hair sticking up all over the place, and he shared Sirius’s obvious hangover symptoms. Remus was shocked that he would even leave the room looking like that.
The thought briefly crossed his mind that perhaps his awful appearance was an intentional choice to draw attention away from his friend, but he dismissed it quickly. It seemed far too considerate an act for James Potter to be capable of.
Everyone was talking about it, of course. How could they not? The news seemed to have already spread throughout the entire great hall by the time Remus arrived with Peter and Lily. The atmosphere was livelier than ever, each house table gathered around whatever few students had been present, leaning in close to hear their sides of the story and casting the occasional glance toward the Gryffindor table to look at Sirius and James. The Gryffindors of Remus’s class, of course, had all been present, which made their table the center of it all. It was almost like comparing notes with classmates before a test, the way everyone was gathered around, telling their own sides of the story, pointing out individual details that only they had noticed. Remus was almost certain that by this time tomorrow, the story would have completely evolved into something far more dramatic than the actual events.
Remus, for one, had no interest in hearing the same story retold a million times. Nor did he want to invade Sirius’s privacy by listening in. He corralled Lily and Peter to sit towards the end of the table, where the gossip would not reach them. He could tell that Lily and Peter were itching to move closer and hear more of it, but they dutifully maintained their composure and made small talk instead. Either Remus’s outburst the night before had truly gotten through to them, or they were staying back for Remus’s sake, knowing if they joined the center group he wouldn’t follow them. Either way, Remus was grateful.
James and Sirius had taken up a similar outskirts position on the other side of the table, engaged in their own quiet conversation. They were separated from their usual friend group, most notably the punk blonde girl Sirius was always hanging around with. Remus wondered if they’d had a fight.
He found himself wishing, stupidly, that he and Peter had gone to sit with the two of them instead of occupying opposite sides of the table. They didn’t seem nearly as insufferable as usual when it was just the two of them alone. Was that how it would be if they did this Dead Poets Society thing?
Peter must have noticed Remus’s staring at the pair of them. When Lily turned away to talk to Mary, he leaned over to whisper in Remus’s ear, “Shrieking Shack.”
Remus shot him a flat look.
“Just sayin’,” Peter shrugged. “Looks like they could use some friends right about now.”
Remus huffed and picked up his fork. They had plenty of friends. Just because they weren’t hanging around them now didn’t mean they’d lost them forever.
Remus caught Sirius’s eye a few times throughout the meal. The eye contact only lasted a second, with Sirius glancing away in an uncharacteristic display of shyness each time their gazes met. Embarrassed, probably. He made a nice job of hiding it among the rest of his peers, maintaining his confident gait and easy smile, but with Remus, he seemed a bit unsure of where they stood.
Remus was unsure too. He found himself growing frustrated with the fleeting glances, wishing things could go back to normal, but it was a ridiculous thought. What was normal between him and Sirius Black? They weren’t friends. They hardly knew each other. Normal was not talking to him. But somehow, that felt weird as well.
Remus almost wanted to hang out with him. It was an odd feeling.
It was Lily who had- however unintentionally- broken the tension. Later that day, she, Remus, and Peter returned to the Gryffindor common area from their piano room only to bump right into James and Sirius.
“Ugh, watch your- Oh! Lily!” James’s demeanor made an instant, comically dramatic switch the moment he laid eyes on his longtime crush.
Usually, this was the part where Lily would brush past him without a word, and Remus was prepared to follow. But she paused in the entryway, leaving Remus to pause as well, right in front of Sirius, who made no move to acknowledge him. Lily spared a brief glance up at James’s face and grimaced dramatically at the unseemly state of it.
James seemed flustered that Lily had actually spared him a moment, and there was a brief pause in which he seemed to be grasping for something witty to say. Finally, he said, “You should see the other guy.”
“I have, actually,” said Lily. “Barely a scratch on him.”
James blushed. “Hey, he looked pretty banged up to me!”
“Yes, well, your eyesight doesn’t seem very reliable these days,” Lily said, nodding towards his cracked glasses.
“Oh, that,” James rubbed the back of his neck. “I suppose I’ll have to fix that. Though I must say, you’re no less beautiful like this.”
Sirius, who had been staring at the floor up until the point, raised his eyebrows at the cheesy line and finally looked up to make eye contact with Remus. The two exchanged a brief look that seemed to say, Merlin, please make it stop. Then they smirked, almost simultaneously, and broke eye contact just as Lily spoke again.
“God, you’re disgusting,” she groaned, taking a step toward James. James, though clearly flustered by her sudden proximity, made no move to pull away.
“ Oculus repairo ,” Lily said, tapping her wand against the rim of James’s glasses. The cracks disappeared, the glass healing over smooth in an instant. She stepped back and stuck her wand back into her sleeve with a satisfied smile.
James pulled the glasses off and stared down at the clear lenses in wonder. His gaze slowly raised back up to Lily, as if she’d just performed a miracle.
Lily huffed and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, don’t read into it, Potter,” she grumbled. “Just trying to spare everyone else from having you bump into them.”
“Well, thank you,” said James, putting the glasses back on his face.
Sirius and Remus exchanged another look.
Lily squinted and tilted her head, as if she was studying his face. “The bruises are actually an improvement,” she added, smirking coyly.
James had no response for this, only looking down at her with an awestruck look on his pathetically bruised face.
Without another word, Lily pivoted on her heel and sauntered past James, looking mightily proud of herself. Remus made to follow her, but some strange urge stopped him. He froze mid-step and turned to Sirius. “Hey, Sirius,” he said, as casually as he could manage. Like they were just friends greeting each other in the hallway. Not that they were friends, of course.
Sirius seemed relieved by the acknowledgment. He smiled- a bit shyer than his usual smiles, but still undoubtedly a Sirius Black smile- and nodded in Remus’s direction. “Hey, Remus.”
Considering his business done, Remus walked past the pair of them to his room, Peter trailing awkwardly behind him, having not said a word during the whole interaction.
When they entered the room, door shut, Peter turned to face Remus.
“Remus,” he said. “You and Sirius Black are friends.”
“What?” Remus cried. Where had this come from? “We’re not friends!”
“Then what was that outside?”
“Er. I just said hey.”
“It was a special ‘hey,’” said Peter. “It was a friendship ‘hey.’”
Remus scoffed, shaking his head. “You’re reading far too much into this.”
“Remus,” said Peter. He always said Remus’s name far too often when he was trying to convince him of something. “Let’s review here, huh? Sirius Black randomly wants to start a secret poetry club with you, in a location where no one else can find it. And he’s bringing his best friend. He and his best friend, who are, by the way, the two most popular boys in the whole class. Sirius wants to be friends with you.”
Remus supposed it did sound a bit absurd, when put like that. But still, “He doesn’t want anything. He’s just being himself.”
“He is certainly not being himself,” Peter insisted. “He was nervous to say hello to you. He was waiting for you to say it. Sirius Black never gets nervous.”
“He was not nervous. It was just awkward because of last night.”
There was a long pause in which Peter stared at Remus incredulously.
“Remus,” Peter said. “We are so lame. You know that, right?”
“I don’t give a shit!” said Remus. “I like being lame!”
“I know you do, but seriously! The most popular boy in the class is offering you a golden opportunity of friendship and you’re turning it down for no reason! It’s stupid! Just give him a chance!”
Remus threw his hands up in the air. “Well, what would you even have me do?”
Peter shrugged, smiling shyly. “Shrieking shack,” he said simply.
“Oh, come on.”
“Just one try!” Peter cried. “Listen. We’ll take them there for one night and do this poetry thing. And if we hate it, or if they act like gits, we’ll never do it again. I promise. We should give them a chance, though. Just one. I’m telling you, Sirius wants to be your friend.”
Remus paused, considering. One meeting sounded reasonable. Just one meeting, and if he hated it, never again.
He looked up to meet Peter’s gaze. The other boy was smirking. Apparently, Remus’s silence had been enough of an answer.
“If this blows up in our faces, I’m blaming you,” said Remus.
He waited a few hours before he sought out Sirius, but his timing couldn’t have possibly been worse. As he approached the door of Sirius’s room, raised voices from inside made him stop in his tracks.
“…just humiliate her in front of everyone? What the fuck is wrong with you?” The voice was a girl’s, strong and heated.
Sirius’s reply matched the girl’s energy. “I told you, she hated me! She was glaring at me the whole fucking time!”
There was a beat of uncomfortable silence. Remus really should have left, but he found himself glued to his spot outside the door.
Finally, the girl spoke again, her voice lowered and calmer. “This is about Regulus, isn’t it?”
Sirius’s response was louder than ever.
“Fuck you! I told you I never wanted to talk about him!”
“But that is what it’s about! You hate that her and Dorcas are friends with Regulus!”
“What the fuck are you even talking about? You don’t know shit about Reggie, and neither do they! You’re supposed to be my friend, and you’re siding with them just because you wanna get your dick sucked!”
Another extremely tense beat of silence. Remus tilted his head. Dick sucked? That had to be metaphorical; his opponent was clearly a girl. In fact, Remus would bet his life it was that blonde girl he was always around.
Her voice was calmer, but scarier, when it returned.
“Sirius Black, you are the most batshit insane, selfish, irresponsible, sexist, crude, insufferable git I have ever had the misfortune of knowing. Your whole thing- everything you wear and your music and shit- it’s all because of me. I fucking made you! So you fucking remember that when you’re wearing your leather jacket and your Doc Martens and listening to your David Bowie- remember who the fuck introduced you to all that shit! This is so over! Go fuck yourself!”
The door flew open and Remus took a step back just in time for the girl to come storming out- the exact blonde that Remus had suspected. She stopped in her tracks halfway out the door. Remus took another step back, suddenly afraid that she was going to turn her rage on him for standing there eavesdropping.
Instead, she turned back around to face the inside of the room, where Sirius presumably sat. “And by the way- I was faking!”
Remus had no clue what she was talking about, but it must have had some sort of significance to the two of them, as she stormed away with her head held high like it was some sort of mic drop.
Remus was left standing outside awkwardly, wondering what to do. Had Sirius and his girlfriend just broken up? It had sure sounded like it.
Now was definitely not a good time to engage. He’d talk to him later, in class maybe.
Remus took a step back from the door and hit a floorboard that let out a very conspicuous creak.
Sirius’s voice came from inside the room, sounding more tired than angry at this point. “If you’ve come back to make me feel worse, you can fuck right off.”
He thought she was the girl, Remus thought. Back for round two. Better clear that up. He took a step forward so he was standing in the doorway, now able to see Sirius where he laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
“How about better?” he said.
The sound of Remus’s voice had Sirius sitting up and turning around instantly. “Remus!” he said. “Sorry, thought you were someone else.”
“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean to- er- interrupt.”
Sirius was clearly upset from the last encounter, but did a good job of hiding it, adopting a casual demeanor and lazy smile. He waved Remus’s words away with a floppy hand. “No, it’s fine. Just girls, y’know? Never gonna understand them.”
“Hm,” said Remus. Remus had never understood the male narrative of “not understanding” girls. He didn’t see what there was to not understand. They only didn’t make sense if you didn’t listen to them. “I understand them pretty well.”
“Well, I bet you get a lot of them,” Sirius said, like it was obvious.
The closest Remus had ever come to kissing anybody was the drunken encounter with the girl at the party that he’d told Sirius about. Of course, he wasn’t going to admit as much. “Sure, I just mean, they’re just people,” he said simply.
“Hm,” said Sirius. “That’s an odd way of looking at things.”
Was it really? This was why Remus hung out with Lily so much. Boys were so strange about girls sometimes.
“Anyways,” he said quickly. “I have an idea.”
“...okay?” Sirius said, raising his eyebrows.
Remus paused. This was a batshit insane idea. He still had time to turn back.
Sirius was looking at him from his spot laying on the bed, eyebrows still raised in anticipation. Screw it, Remus thought.
“I’ve thought of a place.”
He didn’t even need to elaborate for Sirius to understand. He shot up into a sitting position, his eyes practically lighting up. “You have? Where?”
“It may be better to just show you,” said Remus. “The only problem is, it’s outside Hogwarts. We’ll have to sneak out of the castle.”
Sirius grinned mischievously. “Let me handle that. I’ll get us all out, you just lead the way.”
Remus couldn’t help but smile. Sirius’s excitement was wildly contagious. “When do you want to go?”
“Tomorrow night, of course!” Sirius said.
“That soon?”
Sirius nodded vigorously. “Bring all of your poetry books,” he ordered. “And that friend of yours- what was his name?”
“Peter?” Remus asked, resisting the urge to scowl at Sirius’s tone. How had he already forgotten Peter’s name? “It was actually his idea, the place,” He added, trying to give the other boy some credit.
“Oh, good,” Sirius said dismissively. “Bring him along as well.”
“I will,” Remus said.
There was a brief, awkward silence in which Remus stood there lingering in the doorway, wondering if Sirius wanted him to leave now that the plan was made.
“So- er- I’ll see you tomorrow, huh?” he said finally.
Sirius nodded, grinning, teeming with excitement. “Yup!” he said. “See you tomorrow!”
Sirius’s excitement set Remus on edge a bit. In five years at Hogwarts, he’d effectively kept to himself and retained the secret of his identity from all but two people, and now here he was ready to show the Shrieking Shack to the first kid to show an interest in poetry.
Earlier, he’d been chastising Sirius for being an idiot, but perhaps he had no room to talk. It took one idiot to trust another.
Remus sighed. He was in this now, and if it all went wrong… well, at least he could pin it on Peter.