Gryffindors' Bet

Peter is alone after morning detention, because everyone is to Hogsmeade. It's actually quite a pity, that he couldn't go with them, because he doesn't have a permission for this one trip. Some wizards may be surprised that James and Remus went to Hogsmeade without Peter, even though they are so close to each other. What are friends if not loyal allies? The truth, that no one but Marauders know, is, that there are a few secret passageways through the castle that allow the mischief-makers to slip away without a person noticing.

So Peter takes the Map, which the guys left to him, and his bag, so he is ready to go and join his friends. Peter passes through the Gryffindor common room and what surprises him, is that there sits a lone witch, trying to play chess on her own. Seeing the blonde, wavy hair, Peter instantly knows to whom it belongs to. Elspeth hears him, because she turns her head and looks at him, with alarmed eyes. It's only now, when Elspeth sits next to the window, where the sun shines upon her, that Peter distinguish the colour of her eyes. He always described them as greenish and brownish, at the same time, but when rays of the sun fall on the iris behind her lashes, he can only see green. Like the fresh grass after the rain.

But when the sun hides behind the clouds, conifer's shade with a tint of brown are shown, again.

"Aren't you in Hogsmeade?" Elspeth asks softly.

"I had a detention," Peter admits, and sits on the chair in front of the witch.

"Without the boys?" She is surprised.

Peter wants to lay his head on the chessboard, but he doesn't want to change the position of the chess pieces. So he looks at Elspeth, slouching.

"This time it wasn't our doing, but Peeves'." He says. "But what are you doing in here?"

"Oh," Elspeth grimaces. "I had plans with my friend, but she forgot, she promised her presence to someone else."

Peter takes a closer look at Elspeth. She looks normal, she doesn't seem sad, even though she is left out from a group meet. Or maybe she refused to meet with other girls on her own, but still, it's not her fault, that her friend forgot about her previous promise. Was it fair for Elspeth?

He looks for slumped shoulders, dissatisfaction on her face, or just some nervous ticks that would show she is irritated. But there is nothing. Only the troubles to look straight in the Peter's eyes, but it's more the usual shyness than anything else.

"Have you ever baked?" Peter asks, hoping James and Remus won't wait for him for too long.

"Baked? But for what?"

"For pleasure," Peter answers with a soft smile. He glances at the abandoned chess set and gets up. "Want to go?" Elspeth looks up at him and nods. "Then follow me," he adds, and takes her to the kitchen. She was here already, when they came to eat with Remus, but it seems the room makes an impression, because she looks around with curiosity. When a few elves show themselves, Elspeth jumps.

"Welcome Peter, sir," Wigby greets. "You bring your friend?"

"Hi, Wigby, it's Elspeth," Peter introduces her. After it, some more elves appear to see someone new in their kitchen.

"Welcome Elspeth, ma'am."

Elspeth has a bewilderment on her face so visible, that Peter has to stifle his giggle.

"Can we use the kitchen for some time?" Peter asks, and some elves disappear. Some stay, though, waiting. Wigby is actually one of the elves that taught Peter how to cook, and he feels the most comfortable being in the kitchen, around him, but he is afraid that Elspeth could feel only more intimidated, if she was surrounded by so many magical creatures.

The elves are used to his presence in the kitchen, since he comes here, when he feels bored. Or when he has too much work to do, and doesn't know how else to ignore his responsibilities. So it’s often.

Peter nods to Wigby, and the elf shows something to the others, before they all take over the other part of the kitchen, leaving Peter and Elspeth the space.

"I can't really cook anything, but I can show you how to bake. We can make cookies, for example?" Peter asks and sees that Elspeth seems shocked and stressed at the same time. "Don't have to if you don't want to," he smiles.

She looks around, observing elves that pay them no attention.

"Does anyone know about it?" she whispers, concerned.

"I, Prongs… I mean James and Remus. Oh, I think we might have mentioned it to Lily, Dorcas, Marlene, Mary and Emmeline, too. Oh, also elves know, obviously."

"But someone… Adult?" Emmeline asks carefully.

"Why should they know?" Peter questions, curious of her answer, but she only nods and hesitantly joins him. He beams at Elspeth and notices the blush forming on her face. Peter ignores this, like usual, and takes out the ingredients. He actually has no idea, where elves hide ingredients for the meals, because he didn't see any, until he asked them to teach him baking. He sometimes wonders if they do everything magically, even crafting the ingredients, because in the cupboards are only ingredients for baking. As if they prepared them just for Peter.

Well, it's one of these secrets, that Peter isn't curious about enough to risk his opportunity to do the anti-stress baking.

"White sugar," Peter says, placing white sugar on a table. "Brown sugar, flour, salt, chocolate chips and butter." He takes out everything, already searching for tools, but stops to look at Elspeth with a toothy smile. "Ready to work the magic?"

She sends him a smile, so he wonders if she understood the pun.

---

James knows that he forgot the sweets for Peter, when he enters the room, and smells chocolate. He will have to ask Remus to lend him some, because he doesn't even have his own ones to give them to Wormtail, pretending it's for him. Why did he tell Remus, he will buy ones for Peter? He almost always forget, and every time he says, that this time, he'll remember. 

They decided to split up, quite early, because it was easier for Peter to find one of them, than both of them together. So Remus went with Lily and Marlene, but James took a different path. They were meant to meet in The Three Broomsticks. They didn't, though. Well, the rest of them probably did meet, but James has no idea about it, because he never arrived to the pub.

It was somewhere near the Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. James was just passing by, but a small, black, moving shape caught his eyes.

The same shape, that he caught, and has in his arm right now.

"James?" Peter asks with raised eyebrows, his voice not surprised, but distrustful. "What is this black fur ball doing in your hands?"

"It's a cat," James corrects his friend. Peter looks at him in a no-way way. "I found her," he adds.

"Well, I doubt you adopted it," Wormtail says, not taking his eyes off the cat.

"Why are you looking at her, like she would go mad and run away after?" James asks, not feeling right about the cautious and distrustful gaze that his friend keeps on the cat.

"Well, I just assumed that all the scratches you have on your face is from this… creature," Peter notes. James studies his robe and notices all the scratches on his clothes. He actually forgot about the fight with the cat, but now that he thinks about it, the battle between them was quite fierce. James doesn't know why the stray cat would be so against him holding it. It's not like he won't release her. He even told her, that he's going to do so. "And I believe Remus will have to mend you a little. I think there is blood dropping from one of your scratches."

James furrows his eyebrows.

"She was just scared at first. Look at her now, isn't she happy?" James wants to know, because he can't really see the cat's face from his perspective, while holding her in his arms. Peter actually watches the cat with focus.

"I think it's annoyed. Can cat look annoyed?" Peter asks with a slight terror.

"I think you're scared of her and your mind tells you, she's annoyed to justify your fear," James answers wisely. Well, he believes it was something really clever to say and feels rather smug.

"No, the closer I look, the more annoyed it seems," Peter insists. "How do you actually know it’s a girl?"

"Don't you see her pretty face?" James states the obvious. Maybe he has a weakness for black cats, because the one he holds now looks more adorable than any he has ever seen, but… How could Peter not notice that she's a girl? She is so lovable, that he would squeeze her really hard. But at the same time, she is so small, he would probably just strangle her. "What?" he questions, noticing the face Peter is making, again.

"I don't know, it seemed pleased for a few seconds, but now its irritation expression came back," He shudders, looking sincerely unsettled. "But really, boys can't have pretty faces? Didn't you admit that Remus is pretty?"

"Remus isn't pretty. He is handsome in a rough way," James corrects, rolling his eyes.

"So if this cat would have a handsome in-a-rough-way face, it would be a boy? Prongs, didn't you forget about something?"

"Of course not, boys also can be soft and delicate, but look at her eyes, aren't they pretty?"

Peter watches the cat and grimaces.

"I think it doesn't like you calling it a girl," he states. James lifts her up, to take a better look. It's definitely her, he thinks.

"She has lovely eyes," James says, but Peter doesn't answer, so he tilts his head to glance at his friend. Peter seems to be tired, so James decides, it's better not to brag about the adorable cat he found. James looks again at her eyes, and their grey colour reminds him of something, but he can't remember what. Either way, he can't see annoyance. The cat seems rather focused on him, like any cat should be. Probably. James can't remember if he had a cat in such a proximity, but decides, that after he graduates from Hogwarts and moves out from his parents, he will adopt one.

He furrows his eyebrows, because he realises the release of this cat is sooner than he would like to. Should he go to Hogsmeade or just leave it somewhere in Hogwarts? If he showed this cat the secret passageways, maybe she would remember them and find her way to him, somehow?

James lowers his hands to hold her again in his arms and sits down on the bed. The moment he touches the soft sheets, the door opens, and Remus comes to the room.

"Hi Pete, great to know you're already here, James," Remus says, going straight to his bed, as if searching for something. He's so focused on his task, that it's actually surprising he even noticed James.

"Are you going somewhere?" Peter asks. Remus lifts his head up and smiles at Peter.

"I've heard that parents of the Blacks family didn't give their kids a permission to go to Hogsmeade, so Sirius is probably alone, now. I've got to catch the chance, right?" He stands up.

Peter scoffs. "Of course, you would run to him on the first occasion." Remus ignores it, though.

"Oh," James realises. "Do you think Evan and Barty didn't go to Hogsmeade, to keep Regulus company?"

"I don't know, haven't seen them in the castle," Peter says. "Did you see them in the Hogsmeade?"

"I'm not sure…" James ponders. "I was too absorbed by the cat."

"The cat?" Remus laughs, finally looking at James. James beams at his friend, but for some odd, probably very rational reason, Remus freezes. Then pales, and after that, he looks like he is going to faint. "James… Where did you find this cat?"

"She was lost in the Hogsmeade," James answers.

"She…" Remus laughs weakly. "You found this cat and just… took it?" James grins, but Remus doesn't seem amused. "But don't you see, that… it's well-kept? The fur is clean and it looks neat. It… probably has its owners."

The cat makes a sound between scoffing and sneezing. Or maybe it was hissing? James glances at Peter to see this confused expression on his face, once more.

"But she doesn't have a collar," James makes a point. 

"Prongs, not every owned pet has a collar. Some animals just don't like wearing anything."

"Well, she looks like she wouldn't like wearing a collar," James admits.

Remus sighs and then something like a spasm shows on his face. "But James… How did you decide it's a girl…? Did you look at its…?" he doesn't finish, but James knows what Remus has in his mind, so he abruptly denies.

"No! I didn't violate her privacy! But look!" James lifts the cat in Remus' direction. She hisses and scratches him, but James is so used to it, after all the way to Hogwarts, that he almost doesn't notice. Almost. "Look at the eyes, aren't they pretty?"

"Look, James," Remus starts slowly, probably instantly understanding what he means. Remus looks slightly relieved, though, apparently liking the idea of James finding out the sex of the cat in his own way. "You can't decide if some... something is a girl or a boy, not by yourself. If anything, when you have a cat, and you don't know the sex of it, you look at the genitals, not the eyes." 

"But you told us, that genitals doesn't make the gender?" James challenges. 

"For fuck's sake," Remus rubs his temples.

"See?" Peter suddenly calls. "He's utterly irked. I've been telling you he lied, when he said, that, for fuck's sake, is the equivalent of I'm going to miss you."

"But why would he lie?" James questions.

"There is something called a sarcasm," Remus sighs and looks at the cat.

"Is it me, or this cat suddenly seems amused?" Peter asks, the fright in his voice. James tries to look the cat in the eyes, but she is laying in the position that doesn't allow him to see her well.

Remus, though, gazes at the cat rather blankly, and James has a weird feeling they communicate with each other, even if the cat didn't try to tell anything to James. Maybe it's about Remus' werewolf senses? Can he communicate with animals? But they know he can't, surely not when he is in his human form.

"I believe you should let the cat go," Remus says suddenly.

"What? Why?" James asks, even though it was his intention.

"No," Remus shakes his head. "I actually think it would be better if I took this cat."

"What? Why?" It's Peter, this time, who asks.

"Because," Remus sighs, "I'm not sure if James would really let it go."

The cat meows. James tries not to think that the cat actually agrees with Remus.

"Why isn't anyone noticing that this cat is odd?" Peter questions, but both James and Remus ignores him. James tries to start a staring contest with his friend, but Remus only rolls his eyes in an answer.

"You'll give me the cat in a moment, alright, Prongs?" Remus asks, and James sulks.

"What are my chances of winning an argument with you, now?"

Remus quirks an eyebrow, and James decides he has no real chances. He wants to give the cat to Remus, but he shakes his head and pulls out his wand.

"Something else first," he says, and James sees the circular movement of his friend's hand. "Episkey," Remus incantates. Instantly, James starts to feel his cuts being healed. "Can't believe you haven't healed yourself, already. You both know healing spells," Remus sighs.

"We're better with healing major injuries and mending bones, now, though," Peter says and James agrees. When Remus is waking up, after transforming into his human form from the werewolf one, he tends to want to heal his injuries himself. James believes it gives him a sense of control, even if only the little one. Madam Pomfrey treats most of his wounds, though, so him with Peter are curing only these injuries, that seem the most critical.

"Wait," James says, seeing Remus taking the cat and two bars of chocolate. "Why are you taking chocolate with you?"

Remus arranges the position of the cat in his arms more conveniently. "I'm taking one to Sirius, obviously," he says, and James looks at the box, next to his friend's bed, where Remus hides his sweets. James guesses the second bar is for himself, but there are more important matters, now.

James tries to transmit his thoughts to Remus, so he makes intense moves of his eyes in the direction of the box and then again looking back at Remus. His friend gazes at him unbothered, and James is certain there is a sigh, that Remus holds back for the sake of James.

"In the box are your sweets for Pete," he says, and James beams, happy he doesn't have to let Peter down. Remus goes through the door, sending him one last message through his eyes.

They say the one lethal thing. Leave the chocolate alone.

---

When Remus takes some turns and finally get to reach a corridor that doesn't have any students or ghosts wandering around, he lets Regulus go. The cat jump off his arm smoothly on the floor, and a moment later, in front of Remus, happens to be a wizard with dark hair and grey eyes showing annoyance.

"You good?" Remus asks with a smirk. Regulus rolls his eyes.

"As good as I can be, after some random wizard took me and didn't want to let me go, even if I transformed his face into an abstract piece."

"You claim that James awakens the artist's soul in you?" Remus jokes and Regulus glares at him.

"Oh, and you what? Don't you happen to be in a rush, trying to get to Sirius with your chocolate? Shouldn't you hurry?"

It's Remus' turn to glare at Regulus.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't, because some black cat was too mesmerized by James Potter to run away from him, and I had to take matters into my own hands."

"I would deny it, if there was a point in doing so," Regulus claims, and Remus feels smug.

"I also see no point in denying the truth," Remus sighs.

Regulus looks at him blankly.

"Since when are you so dramatic, Lupin?"

"I've been staying in the same room with James for 6 years, now. You ought to have your moments." Remus grins, and Regulus rolls his eyes. "Really, you should be thankful your brother isn't a dramatic bastard."

Regulus scoffs and shakes his head, but Remus isn't sure if it's about him using the words, dramatic bastard, or if Sirius, too, has his dramatic moments. Either way, Regulus doesn't comment on it.

"Well, I won't be stopping you anymore. You can go to your lover, since you got the chance," Regulus says and tries to walk away, but Remus decides to stop him. Remus reaches out to grab Regulus' shoulder, but in the last moment, he pulls his hand back, remembering to limit the sudden touch.

"Regulus, wait," Remus calls instead. The boy stops and turn his head with a questioning expression. Remus takes a few long strides and holds his hand before Regulus' eyes for a second, before slowly reaching down for Regulus' hand. Regulus is surprisingly still, when Remus takes his hand and opens his fingers to place two chocolate bars in Regulus' palm. The boy looks at the chocolate he has in his grasp, before looking up, at Remus. He quirks an eyebrow.

"The second one was for you, either way, so you can take two and give one to Sirius," Remus explains and takes a step back. Regulus opens his mouth to close it after, without saying anything, but in the end he tells the most fitting, and maybe not so unexpected words.

"Thank you," Regulus nods, and goes, probably in the direction of Slytherin Dungeon.

Remus watches him walking away for a few more seconds, before he sighs and takes his own route back. He passes more students than usual, since it's the weekend and he wonders, how James managed to hold Regulus for so long, and why he was so stubborn about it. At some point, Remus chuckles to himself, because James is drawn to Regulus no matter of his form. He just has no idea.

When Remus is almost in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, his instinct tells him to look left. He tries to believe it was only a mistaken impression, or maybe a stray student, but after he enters the common room, he can't stop thinking about the sight of the silhouette of a person. The shadow that hid behind the wall the moment Remus laid his eyes on it.