Howlers
By the time that Remus was awake the next morning, the only other person in his room awake was Peter, who was studying in the corner of the room with his wand tucked behind one ear. He had the end of his quill in his mouth and his gaze was fixated on whichever book he was reading. Remus decided not to approach him, since he wanted to begin on his project right away.
Peter was the last person to agree, after all, he was a wuss. Peter would often fall over his own feet, get runny noses, spill his food down his shirt or even somehow get ink in his hair during History of Magic. He was clumsy. Anybody could see that, it was quite obvious to the entire Hogwarts population that he was mostly incompetent. With this bad image of Peter in his mind, Remus attempted to creep into the bathroom, but the creaking of the floorboards must've alerted Peter, because soon enough, he was trailing behind Remus like a lost puppy.
"What classes do we have today?" He asked, far too eager for school.
"Uh, don't know," Remus replied, unsure of what to say next.
"Isn't the Halloween ball in two weeks? I'm going with Sybill, but what about you?" Peter questioned, whilst he (for some odd reason) followed Remus into the bathroom. Remus looked down into the sink and splashed hot water on his face before looking up at Peter again. The boy looked so excited, that Remus didn't have it in him - nor the energy - to be snappy right then.
"Marlene." Remus said distastefully, whilst he took a toothbrush from the holster and squirted some mint toothpaste onto it, ignoring the fact that it had dripped onto his collar slightly.
"McKinnon? She's nice I think," Peter said, muttering to himself whilst thinking of it. Remus and Peter hadn't talked a lot, since Peter was always trailing after James and Remus was mainly alone. "I don't even like Sybill, but she grew up on the same street that me and James did, so I'm kind of close with her." Peter rambled on, ignoring the fact that Remus had groaned about fifty times and begun running a shower.
Eventually, Remus had to physically force a very confused Peter out of the bathroom since he had undid his top button and Peter clearly wasn't budging. The sound of fading footsteps felt like a weight being lifted off of Remus' shoulder. He couldn't take another second of that chatter, even if it was insolent of Remus to be this judgemental, he didn't care.
After his shower, Remus began leaving the dormitory, despite James and Sirius only just beginning to wake up. He took his seat in the cafeteria and waited with a book in hand for the food to appear. Remus was now reading: What Magic Protects our Ministry?, which was practically the perfect book he could've ever imagined. It didn't go into too much detail, but it was still helpful.
By the time his friends had come downstairs, he had read only five pages of it, even though he was sat there for almost half an hour. The hall began piling in with students, and Remus grunted as Sirius toppled into him. Chatter filled the air, and Remus wanted to leave desperately, but he knew deep down that he had to be slightly more social to fit in and not raise suspicion.
Suddenly, a regal-looking owl swooped inside, it's large, grey wings stretching far as it nosedived into a plate of scrambled eggs which was in front of Remus. All eyes were on him, and he could feel his face heating up. Remus hesitantly took a letter from the bird's mouth, and he winced at the texture of it. A deep red envelope which seemed to be sizzling and spitting fire and embers was in his hand. Most people - other than a few older years - were looking at him from down the table, but he hadn't a clue about what this letter was. So much for not raising suspicion.
"That's a howler!" Peter squeaked, and Remus cocked an eyebrow at him. "You best open it, Remus. Once I tried to ignore one from my father, and it was awful!" Without explaining further, Peter urged for Remus to open it. Remus merely scoffed as he ripped the top of the envelope off, still not completely sure as to what this letter was, oh if only he knew.
"REMUS JOHN LUPIN!" The Director's voice boomed, stretching from across the hall. Even Dumbledore seemed intrigued now. "I HOPE YOU KNOW HOW ALL YOUR ACTIONS AFFECT US AS AN ORPHANAGE. WE TOOK YOU IN AT FOUR YEARS OLD, AND WHEN A SCHOOL FINALLY WANTS YOU THAT'S WHEN YOU BRING BACK THIS REBELLIOUS ACT? DON'T THINK I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT THOMAS CLIFF, HE'S TOLD ME ALL ABOUT THE INFESTATION! YOU BEST STRAIGHTEN UP YOUR ACT AT SCHOOL, BECAUSE I'M ALREADY HAVING YOU LOCKED IN THE BASEMENT FOR A MONTH FOR THAT STUNT!" The letter finally finished, ending with a raspberry in Remus' face as it dissolved into ash, ruining the food in front of it.
He choked out a manic laugh, and looked at the shocked faces of his friends. "Dw i'n mynd i ladd Cliff!" He declared, trying to ignore other people who were looking at Remus, including Marlene who seemed to be mouthing praises to him. Everybody was dumbstruck, not only at the fact of the Howler, but also how Remus had just spoken in a different language. "Oh big surprise I speak Welsh." He muttered under his breath, and Sirius scoffed.
"First a Howler, now you speak that?" Sirius clarified, and Remus nodded along, his lips parted slightly. "Awesome!" The black haired boy tried to give Remus a high five, but was sadly ignored by the werewolf who cringed at the mere idea.
"Please explain the Howler?" James politely asked, and Remus rolled his eyes before diving into the whole story. About halfway through, most of the hall seemed to have lost interest, and began gradually returning to their own conversations. James congratulated him on having strong morals, whereas Sirius' kudos came from the prank which he pulled off. Peter didn't appear to have any comments, he merely creased his eyebrows at the details and continued eating his (now ash covered) sausages.
"So what's the basement about?" Sirius finally asked, and Remus clenched his teeth. The basement was dreadful. The air was thick and smoggy, rats and rodents crawled through gaps in the floorboards and holes in the walls, insects of all sorts thrived in the dampness of the floor, mould crept its way up the walls, and iron bars blocked off the windows. Remus went there for his monthly transformations, but that wasn't why it was built.
No, the basement's purpose was to torture badly behaved students. Remus found himself there a lot a few years ago, before he decided to stop fighting back. When sent down there, he wouldn't eat for days on end, which led to him in present day still having quite a messed up eating schedule.
Remus just shrugged at the question, "Like a timeout place." He decided not to elaborate more, and thankfully, his friends didn't pry.
"Aww is ickle Remmy going in the naughty corner?" Sirius teased, putting on a baby voice. Remus giggled slightly, blush appearing on his cheeks. Remus grabbed a handful of scrambled eggs and began lobbing them at Sirius, cackling as the black haired boy failed to dodge in time.
"I didn't know that the Director was a witch," Remus mumbled to himself thoughtfully.
"She doesn't have to be," Peter piped up, and the other three boys all turned to look at him. It seemed that Marlene, Mary and Lily had shuffled down the table as well, seeing as Marlene was now next to Peter, Lily next to James (who was very happy about this arrangement) and Mary craning her neck from behind Lily to try listen as well. "A wizard could've sent the howler but she just spoke through it," Remus thought about this for a second, wondering who it could be.
"'Said she 'ad a brother who was like me one time." Remus commented, and James smiled in agreement. Sirius shrugged, thinking that this mystery wasn't all that interesting. But the girls and Peter seemed to think that there was more to it, so Remus began packing his things and made his way to the Hospital wing without uttering another word; nobody followed him.
When he had arrived there, Madam Pomfrey ushered him in encouragingly. The rain outside made hard patting sounds against the windows, but Remus loved the rain. The noises, the petrichor, the feeling of wet hair. It was the ideal weather - but apparently not everybody enjoyed the simple luxury of being allowed to light a candle in a literal castle. Madam Pomfrey tutted from beside him, as they stared out the window, looking over the vast, sinister forest before them.
"Looks like it's going to storm," She muttered, a whilst gathering her things together. The metal trinkets made clinging noises as they banged together from the shakiness of her hands. "Hate storms, I do." Madam Pomfrey looked up to meet eyes with Remus', who had a cool expression on his face.
"I love 'em." He shrugged, causing Madam Pomfrey to chuckle heartedly.
"Ah, I assume you're here for Trickster, yes?" She continued rushing around the hospital wing, drawing back curtains every now and then to check on sleeping patients. Remus smirked as he used his hands to pull himself onto a metal bed which was placed behind him.
"Nah, just came to chat." He chuckled lightly, glancing around the hospital wing, taking in the scenery as if he didn't visit a billion times per day. "How is Trickster, now we're on the topic?" He casually slipped in, but Madam Pomfrey clearly noticed by the judgemental expression which she shot Remus. He hadn't been as concerned about Trickster lately, there was no way somebody could reach him in the safeness of the hospital wing, and he was going to solve this crime.
"He's stable, no anomalies in his vitals - if that's what you mean." Remus gaped at her, his chapped lips parted and his eyes wide. Madam Pomfrey giggled lightly at his expression, before jumping at a low rumble in the sky, dropping her tools as a result. She composed herself and crouched down to pick up her things, whilst explaining. "All normal - all good." She simplified it for him, and he beamed down at her.
That was the best news he could've realistically received, other than Trickster being out of his coma of course. "Do you mind if I borrow something, miss?" He asked with puppy dog eyes, and Madam Pomfrey looked up at him with suspicion in her eyes. She pulled herself off of the ground, and walked forwards to stand over him.
"That depends really, doesn't it?" She grinned and ruffled his hair, before Remus swatted her hand away playfully.
"Could I borrow some Fluxweed, please?" He had hoped that this didn't sound too suspicious, coming from a werewolf. After all, this was an ingredient that could only be picked on a full moon, so he couldn't exactly propose the idea to Sirius, James or Peter. It would be far too suspicious for him to suggest that he collect every ingredient except for that one.
"Fluxweed? This wouldn't be for polyjuice potion, now would it?" Madam Pomfrey gave him a knowing, disappointed look. He shook his head, far too quickly apparently. A guilty sweat trickled down his forehead so Remus pulled himself up and began walking out, but not before muttering some curse words under his breath.
Remus had defence against the dark arts now, which was quite a good subject, despite having to work with his teacher. He strolled through the corridors carelessly, with the knowledge that he was at least ten minutes early. Lily would probably already be there, or so he assumed. When he had arrived, there was more than just a ginger girl waiting.
Of course, Lily was there, but along with her, was Mary MacDonald and Severus Snape. Snape's shaggy, greasy hair was the same as always, but something was different about Mary's. Her dark skin and Cupid bow lips were all the same, but her hair on the other hand, was not. Mary wasn't noticeably chubby, but it had been shown by the way she clutched her stomach that she was insecure of her baby fat. Mary was undeniably beautiful, but it was shown in the way that her long, curled eyelashes fluttered whenever somebody complimented her that she couldn't see this.
This was off track, the massive difference in her appearance, was that her hair had been cut to just below her ears. Luckily for her, Mary's curls made it look perfectly normal. "Why'd you cut your hair?" Remus asked, whilst swinging on an ancient pillar to face her.
"Marlene did it." Mary replied, happily, whilst Lily greeted Remus warmly.
"Not my question," Remus mumbled, whilst moving to stand on the opposite end of the hallway. "Do you lot know where I could get some fluxweed?" He casually slipped in, and all the girls - and a nosy Snape - all stared suspiciously.
"Well, it can only be picked on full moons, but you could buy it at Diagon Alley, I suppose." Lily responded, thinking with her ring finger against her cheek. "What's this for, Remus?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Remus fidgeted with the brick wall behind him, running his fingers through the cracks and crevices. He glanced at each of them, before his gaze landed on Snape. "I'm inventing a new shampoo, Severus, why don't you borrow it sometime." Snape took a step forward, seeming like an animal ready to pounce. "Careful, we wouldn't want another bloody nose, now would we?" He threatened, fist clenched as he edged towards him.
"Enough!" A female voice of authority said, over the top of both of their teasing. Mrs Luck was stood there, arms folded and a frustrated expression on her face. "Lupin, go to Dumbledore, now."
"That's so unfair!" Remus whined, gesturing towards Snape, who literally had his wand still aimed at Remus.
"Now." She repeated, firmly. Her black hair was tied in a messy bun, and it made her already horrendous face even more unbearable to look at.
“You know, I was originally gonna make shampoo for Snape, but I think some wrinkle cream could do you wonders.” Remus spat, before turning on his heel and strutting away, back slouched and hands in his robe pockets.