The First Prank
Saturday morning three boys in the Gryffindor first years dorm woke up earlier than any of them wanted due to a storm of energy called James Potter.
Remus pulled his covers over his head trying to block out James. He was perfectly content to stay right there in his bed and sleep for another two hours at least.
”Come on, the lot of you get up! We’ll miss the quidditch tryouts if you don’t get up.” There was a slight whine to James’ voice.
Once again a pillow flew at James’ head, ”Shut up James, it’s six in the bloody morning the tryouts won’t be until nine.”
“But we need to get there early to secure the best places.” The whine to James’ voice was now prominent
Remus let out a deep sigh and sat up, “James… I don’t recall agreeing to join in on this.”
“But Remus, you need to come too you’re in the library often enough. Some fresh air will do you good.” James was practically begging Remus.
“Merlin’s saggy tits James, even if Remus agreed to come I hardly think he agreed to wake up at the ass crack of morning.” Another one of Sirius’ pillows flew at James.
“Well… we’re awake now anyway, might as well get up.” Peter’s hesitant voice called over them.
With one more deep sigh Remus nodded, “Right, come on Sirius no point in trying to sleep after already waking up let's go eat.”
“You lot go, I’m going to sleep more.” Sirius stated while muttering expletives under his breath and huddling deeper into his bed.
James, Peter and Remus shared looks and Remus shrugged, getting ready to head down to eat. The three boys walked in silence for under two minutes before James started prattling on about quidditch forcing a small frown to form between Remus’ brows. The Great Hall was nearly empty with only a few of the quidditch players and hopefuls sitting sleepily at the tables eating. Remus settled down, pulling out a book to skim through while eating.
Remus was filling his plate with a third serving of eggs – always more hungry when he woke up early – when Sirius joined them, his hair pulled into a messy ponytail and he still looked half asleep.
“Absolutely ridiculous, first James and then Narcissa.” Sirius was muttering absentmindedly under his breath.
Remus looked up from his books, “Narcissa?” His brows furrowed in question.
Sirius looked alarmed, “Oh right, um…she came to talk to me again, something about my dear mother and her expectations of the heir.” Sirius plopped his chin on his hand, a pout forming on his lips.
Remus studied Sirius for a while more before deciding prodding more into the subject wouldn’t be a good idea and instead decided to go back to his book and eggs. Remus tuned out the conversations while he put his focus to his book about the creation of new spells. He had been working on a map to help him find his way through the castle easier and to show his mother the expanse of the castle so she could experience it too — Remus had always loved books with maps attached that his mum would bring him — and Remus had come to the conclusion he’d need some specified spells to make it work accurately.
After an hour of eating and chatting the four boys decided to start heading towards the quidditch field, James leading the group while prattling on about quidditch roles while Sirius was lagging behind yawning every so often. Remus spared amused glances in Sirius’ way gently guiding him by the elbow when he’d be about to walk straight to a door frame, a tree or trip over a rock. Remus received sleepy smiles of appreciation from Sirius every time he helped him.
The September air was nice and cool as it blew through Remus’ hair, making him close his eyes and hum softly, delighted at the gentle blow of the wind in his face washing any residue sleepiness he had away. As the boys reached the quidditch stands Remus looked alarmed by the amount of stairs James was already taking them two at a time, followed by Peter. Remus stood at the bottom of the stairs unsurely, his hand unconsciously going to rub at his hip and biting his lip lightly — he ought to just do it shouldn’t he.
Remus nearly jumped out of his skin as Sirius placed his hand on Remus’ shoulder.
”Your hip is bothering you isn’t it? Come on, I'll support you up the stairs.”
”It’s fine Sirius you don’t need to.”
”I know but I will, so come on, let's get a move on.”
The tips of Remus’ ears heated slightly, embarrassed to be helped so openly, but grateful for Sirius as he knew his aching hip could not have survived the climb up the stairs. Greyback's bite stood just above the hip that always ached and Remus had long ago deduced the bite was the cause – sitting stark against his freckled skin, an angry red that refused to fade.
Both boys were sweating slightly by the time they made it up the stairs and took their seats next to Peter and James who were already looking to the field to see all the hopeful students wishing to make their respective houses teams. Remus stretched his neck to see down to the field, surprised at the amount of students and all houses being present.
“They keep all the teams’ tryouts at the same time?” Remus had thought they’d have separated time slots for everyone.
“Yeah, they just divide the field. Not sure why it’s not per house but it’s fun seeing what each team has to offer.” James explained his eyes never leaving the field.
Sirius once again yawned before leaning forward to see the field better, “The Slytherins seem to go more for brawl than brain, their team looks awfully big.”
Peter let out a snort and Remus let a discreet smile form on his face as he too thought the Slytherin players seemed quite a bit bigger than the other houses’ players. After half an hour of watching Remus started to lose focus not nearly as interested in what was happening as his three friends and decided to pull his book out flipping to the page he left off at.
Remus was pulled out of his intense focus on the book by Peter’s voice.
”Are you two really going to do a prank?”
”Yup, we just need to figure out the spells.” James answered as brightly as ever, eyes still focused on the quidditch field.
”Though that’s much harder than we anticipated, there seem to be no good spells for what we need.” Sirius slumped down heavily on the bench next to Remus ending his words with a deep resolute sigh.
At that Remus decided to close his book, ”You know, you could just make your own spells, it's not too hard.” Remus shrugged
The three boys looked at him like he had lost his mind, all their attention now on Remus.
Remus flushed slightly and gestured to his book, ”I’ve been researching it and it really is quite simple.”
Remus saw Sirius and James share a look before Sirius turned to him once more.
”Remus Lupin we hereby invite you to join us in our mischief making.”
Remus let out a snort at Sirius, ”What’s in it for me then?” A mischievous smile formed on his face.
A matching smile formed on Sirius’ face as he cleared his throat, ”We won’t bother you when you decide to go to the library.”
James was nodding thoughtfully and Remus smiled, ”Deal.”
The three boys grinned at each other before they were taken out of their little bubble by Peter’s nervous voice, ”Can- can I help too?”
”Of course Petey boy, the four of us will create the greatest pranks Hogwarts has seen!” James pulled Peter to his side swaying him excitedly while Peter let out nervous giggles.
* * *
The next week was spent researching and planning in between lessons and in the evenings. Remus had made a fair bit of progress on figuring out mixing spells for both the prank and his map — he wanted to mark and track the moving staircases accurately. While spending most of his time at the library — sometimes accompanied by his three friends — Remus had ended up talking more to the redhead Lily Evans and found he rather enjoyed her company when she wasn’t accompanied by the Slytherin boy; Severus Snape.
Snape didn’t hide his disgust at Remus which Lily reprimanded Snape for but it did naught to deter the greasy haired boy. Remus tried to brush it off but he couldn’t deny that Snape’s comments affected him. He was aware of his scars and made a point to hide them as well as possible but Snape seemed to pick them out when no one could, putting a damper on Remus’ mood. The times his friends accompanied him to the library and crossed paths with Snape, Sirius and James were quick to call him out and had taken to commenting on Snape's own appearance — to Lily’s dismay — and a mutual animosity was born between them.
Remus scrubbed his hands over his face scanning through his notes at breakfast, checking that everything made sense before he’d try and present it to his friends for refining and learning the spells for their first prank. It had taken Remus some time but he had found a good combination of spells he was able to do and hopefully teach to his friends. It wasn’t as grand as they had hoped but it would have to do.
Remus was brought out of his notes as an owl swooped over them dropping a letter in front of Sirius, spilling pumpkin juice as it flew away.
Remus looked at the letter curiously when he saw Sirius’ face light up and rip open the letter swiftly scanning it over.
”Whose it from?” James' mouth was full of sausage, the words barely understandable.
”My brother, Regulus.” Sirius wore a smile and the fondness in his voice was palpable.
Remus felt slightly giddy seeing Sirius so unusually happy when it came to his family, and folded his notes tucking them into his bag. He yawned and stretched his arms up and took a swig of his pumpkin juice.
”I’ll stop by the library before class, see you there.” Remus’ didn’t stay to wait for answers as he briskly walked out of the Great Hall needing to be swift in his trip to the library to make it to class on time. He had been eyeing the copy of Hogwarts A History to help him aid on his mapmaking, hoping the book would provide something useful. It had been taken out the whole start of the year but as Remus had gained Madam Pince’s trust she had tipped him off to the book being available in the morning. Remus climbed the stairs as fast as he could ignoring the ache on his hip, his determination to get the book overriding the discomfort of his hip.
At last Remus emerged victorious from the library Hogwarts A History tucked safely under his arm, but as it went for him things weren’t meant to be good for long. Only a few steps out of the library and Remus nearly walked straight into a 5th year Slytherin. His face paled as he realised the Slytherin was none other than Sirius’ cousin Narcissa. He gave a quick apology, moving to pass her when he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
”You… you’re Sirius’ friend aren’t you?”
”Um, yes I am.”
Narcissa’s sharp eyes pierced through Remus making his shift uncomfortably under her gaze.
”Do my little cousin a favour and stay away from him will you, he ought to start acting on his role as the rightful heir associating with the likes of you will only hinder him.”
Remus couldn’t say anything and only stared at Narcissa’s receding form, mouth slightly agape before collecting himself and heading to class. Thoughts of Sirius’ family swirling in his head.
The school day went by quickly though Remus noticed Sirius was acting more subdued than usual but when he had asked if he was okay Sirius had only dismissed him saying nothing was wrong. Remus kept pondering over this as he tried to teach his friends how to do the spell for their little prank, not yielding quite the results they had hoped and together decided to work on it more the next day. As his friends had gone to bed, Remus lay awake in his bed flipping through Hogwarts A History, scrawling out a note on parchment every now and then, immersed in his own little world. He was brought out of his immersion as his ears picked up the slightest sniffle. Remus sat up concentrating, straining his ears to listen to any more noise. Sure enough there was another quiet sniffle and Remus stepped out of his bed to try and pinpoint which of his friends was crying. The soft snores coming from behind the curtains on Peter’s bed told Remus it certainly wasn’t Peter and turned his focus to James’ and Sirius’ beds. A one more sniffle told him it was Sirius and he quietly approached Sirius’ bed and stood in front of it chewing on his lip lightly thinking of the best thing to do.
Remus cleared his throat and whispered quietly, ”It’s Remus, can I come in?”
The sniffles stopped and for a minute Remus thought Sirius would tell him to leave before the curtains parted slightly and Sirius pulled Remus inside. Sirius wiped at his eyes as Remus studied him, brows furrowing in concern.
”Do you want to talk about it? You’ve seemed rather down all day.”
Sirius gave him a watery smile before opening his mouth, ”It’s my brother, Regulus, he- he’s been having a hard time at home without me…the letter was- it was him telling how things were at home. They aren’t great.”
Remus sat silently waiting for Sirius to continue, offering Sirius a small smile when he glanced at him, hoping it would encourage him to continue talking.
”It’s- my parents, they punished us a lot for everything… when it was me and Reg at home I’d take the burnt of the punishments and yelling not wanting Reg to experience it.”
Remus frowned at the mention of apparently frequent punishments that warranted a reaction this big from Sirius but remained quiet not wanting to interrupt him.
”I- I thought they wouldn’t treat Reg like me, he was always better behaved, the good son.” Sirius let out a soulless chuckle, ”Turns out I was wrong, Reg he- he’s been… it’s not been easy for him and he’s scared and I-” Sirius thought for a moment before turning to look Remus straight in the eyes, ”I feel like I’m failing him, I’m here and not there protecting him like an older brother should. I can’t do anything to help him and his letter… it broke my heart Remus.” Fresh tears welled in Sirius’ eyes and Remus moved to hug him, which turned out to be the right choice as Sirius clung to him and his tears wet Remus’ pyjama shirt.
”You should write to him, to your brother. I’m sure he could take comfort in that.”
Sirius looked at Remus for a moment before wiping his nose, ”You’re right… you know, you really are good at this whole comforting thing Remus.” Remus’ cheeks flushed slightly unnoticed in the dark as he rubbed his neck and shrugged, glad that Sirius was feeling better.
* * *
Just four days before the next full moon the four boys were ready to execute their prank. They had waited until curfew to slip out under James’ invisibility cloak. Their plan was to turn all the suits of armour in the castle to bright Gryffindor colours and make them spurt a foul smelling fluid whenever Slytherins walked past them. It had been a tricky bit of magic for them but Remus had managed to finally smooth out all the wrinkles and now all of them were grinning wide, wands ready to cause mischief. They worked efficiently, tackling one hallway at a time James and Sirius taking one side of the hallway and Remus and Peter taking the other and then moving together under the invisibility cloak to the next hallway. It was nearly 3 am when the four boys finally climbed back the stairs to their dorm all but ready to collapse in bed.
The boys hurried to breakfast early wanting to be present when the chaos started. Sure enough after 15 minutes of them waiting and Sirius nodding to sleep, the Great Hall started to fill with students excitedly chattering about the suits of armour. The first shock to Slytherins came when none other than Narcissa Black entered the Great Hall covered in green smelly gunk that couldn’t be cleared away by spells — a clever idea on Peter’s part. — Narcissa’s sharp eyes scanned the hall before settling on the four boys, her eyes narrowing in anger.
”You-” she screeched, stalking over to them as Sirius tried and failed to hide his laughter, ”you brats! You did this, didn't you? I’ve had enough of you and your antics Sirius.” She pointed a well manicured nail at Sirius’ face, anger rippling off of her in waves, ”I’ll be informing aunt Walpurga of your doings!”
And with that Narcissa turned on her heel and stalked away. The moment Narcissa had excited the Great Hall the students let their laughter come forth only encouraged by Sirius’ uncontrollable laughter at his cousin, that even her threats couldn’t dampen his mood. Throughout the day many more Slytherins fell victim to the suits of armour before the professors were able to figure out and erase the magic, much to the four boys' disappointment. The suits of armour managed to wreak havoc until lunch, when their clever spells had been removed and the suits of armour returned to normal. Talk of their little prank carried on around the castle and even Remus’ aches and pains as the full moon closed in couldn’t erase his jolly mood and the warmth filling his stomach when surrounded by his three friends.
* * *
October 4th
The waxing moon was ever closer to its peak and Remus felt it in every part of his being. The day before the full was agony to Remus, he tried to ignore the pains and aches but he could only do so much. His eyes strained to keep tears from falling as he took another break on the sixth floor on his way from the library back to the common room. Remus slumped against the wall breathing heavily, every part of his body hurt he hated it, hated this, hated himself. The more Remus learned about werewolves and Greyback the more he understood his father and his decisions and the more his hatred towards himself grew. The pains existed as a gross reminder of what he would become in a few hours. Angry tears pricked at Remus’ eyes, he didn’t want this, he never asked for any of this so why did he have to suffer so. The third time Peeves flew past him cackling ‘Loony Lupin’ in his wake, Remus finally gathered the strength to push off the wall and make the trek to the Gryffindor common room.
Sweaty from pain and exertion Remus collapsed on one of the plush couches in the Gryffindor common room, revelling in the softness and comfort of the warmth coming from the fireplace. Lily and Marlene who were sitting on the sofa before Remus arrived looked at him with concern written all over their faces.
“Are you okay Remus? You seem a bit pale.” Lily raised one thin eyebrow in concern, Marlene looking at him over Lily’s shoulder equally as concerned.
Remus sighed, raising his arm to cover his eyes, “Just feeling a bit sickly, I’ll head over to Madam Pomfrey in a bit… Thanks for worrying.” Remus spared the girls a weak smile before pulling himself off the couch and towards the boys’ dorms, ignoring the worried looks he felt burning at the back of his head. Remus grit his teeth forcing himself to climb the stairs until he was finally in front of the door. He pulled the door open and made a beeline to his bed, collapsing on it with a thud. Remus wanted to cry, sick of everything, angry at Greyback, his father and himself. Remus shuffled in bed and buried his face in his pillow – letting a couple tears fall and soak into his pillow – ignoring the quiet whispers and worried looks of James, Sirius and Peter.
“Remus… are you alright?” James’ worried voice filled Remus’ over sensitive ears making a small whine slip past his lips as he responded gruffly, “No.”
After a few more worried whispers between his friends Remus abruptly sat up, “I’m going to see Madam Pomfrey, doubt I’ll make it to dinner.”
As Remus made to stand up he wobbled, his head spinning in pain. Swiftly Sirius was at Remus’ side supporting him, an arm snaked around Remus’ waist. With no energy to fight it Remus gave his thanks and the two boys started their descent to the Hospital wing. Both boys were quiet, the only sounds being Remus’ heavy breathing and the slight whines of pain leaving his lips. Remus would have spent time being embarrassed if he wasn’t so focused on the crippling pain taking over his body. Two floors down Sirius finally broke the silence, the worry evident in his voice.
”This is worse than last month, can you manage?”
”Don’t have much choice do I?” Remus grunted weakly as a sharp pain shot up his spine.
As they reached the Hospital wing’s doors a worried Madam Pomfrey hurrying their way. Remus promptly threw up on the floor, the pain dizzying. Madam Pomfrey cleaned the mess with a flick of her wand and ushered Remus inside, Sirius following quietly behind hovering next to the cot Remus was placed on worry etched into his every feature. Madam Pomfrey quickly returned with a potion that Remus drank down without complaints, relief washing over him as the worst of the pain faded away. As Remus started to doze off he could hear Sirius’ worried questions and Madam Pomfrey’s strict but gentle voice, not registering any of their words before darkness took over his vision.
Remus was woken up by Madam Pomfrey feeling marginally better. She gave Remus a gentle smile and brushed his hair out of his face.
”It’s time to go dear, are you ready?”
Remus gulped and nodded, rising shakily to his feet and was gently escorted by Madam Pomfrey out of the Hospital wing and towards the great oak doors leading to the grounds. The cool evening air blowing against Remus’ skin made him feel slightly better, though the knowledge of what was to come made his stomach twist in knots, a shudder raking through his body.
Madam Pomfrey helped him all the way to the shack making sure he was comfortable as could be before leaving and securing the trap door shut.
Remus curled in on himself, the pain intensifying as the moon grew closer, a few stray tears escaping Remus’ eyes he didn’t bother to wipe away. Suddenly a cold shiver went down Remus’ spine as he hurriedly turned around peering through the boarded up windows. It felt like someone had been there just beyond the window. An uneasy feeling settled itself in Remus’ stomach, he wouldn’t be able to do anything even if someone was there all he could do was sit and wait for the inevitable transformation to come. Remus sniffled quietly alone in the dark, scared and in pain.
Soon his whimpers turned to screams of agony, pain ripping through every part of his body, bones breaking and reforming, muscles ripping apart. Before long gone were the cries and screams of an eleven year old boy replaced by the howls of a caged wolf.
* * *
The wolf was more agitated than ever, it could faintly sense another presence not far. It whined and scratched at the walls, windows, doors and floors letting out frustrated howls and whines nipping at itself every now and then. It was caged, trapped, isolated from its true home under the moonlight running free among a pack of its own.
The wolf stalked across every room in the shack biting and throwing itself at the walls and windows leaving stains of blood behind. Someone was there, close. It could sense the smell of another like it. The wolf's frustration grew and grew, caged and unable to get out whimpers and whines leaving its mouth.
Its ears perked up at the sound of rustling outside reaching as close to the noise as it could, sniffing the air a faint but distantly familiar scent reaching its nose. It whined once more, it needed to get out, needed to find that scent.
A loud bellowing howl sounded outside, one with the moon. The wolf howled back, craving to be one with the other to have a pack. The howls of the two wolves punctuated the night and eventually faded to silence as the moon waned.
* * *
Remus woke up dizzy and his throat sore. Swallowing was agony and he wished nothing more than to moisten his grating parched throat. He shifted slightly a sharp pain shooting up his arm. Remus looked down to see new wounds created by the wolf seeping blood again as he had disrupted the crusted blood ripping the wound anew.
Remus let himself cry in the quiet morning alone in the shack, waiting for Madam Pomfrey to come and collect him, to fix his broken body anew and pretend like nothing ever happened. Remus’ thoughts swirled as he looked up at the ceiling, could he ever truly accept who he was, could he keep pretending nothing was wrong. A sob wracked through his body, he was alone as could be. There was only Remus and the wolf inside him. No matter how he pretended and tried, the wolf was always there, never far, lurking just behind him.
Remus wiped his eyes not wanting any more pity from Madam Pomfrey than he already received. He didn’t deserve it, in the end he would always be a monster and nothing could change that. As Remus started at the ceiling lost in his thoughts a sharp alert feeling shook him. He was forgetting something, something very important. What had happened when he was a wolf? He could not remember, all he could feel was the sinking feeling that he was forgetting something important. Something he should remember. He tried to remember the night's events with all his might but it was all for naught as the memories of him as a wolf were nothing but fleeting moments disappearing to the fog of his mind.
Remus was faintly present as Madam Pomfrey came for him, too lost in his own mind to react to her arrival. He could faintly hear her murmur about his state waving her wand over his body before moving him back towards the school. Before Remus knew his mind was swallowed in darkness and he could feel nor hear no more, floating alone in an endless abyss.
Remus woke up bright light blasting behind his eyelids as he blinked awake, a headache taking over him causing his hands to fly to his head and rub at his temples. Water. He needed water, his throat parched and sore. Before Remus knew a cup was guided to his lips, smooth cool water sliding down his throat soothing it. As his headache reduced he dared open his eyes properly and was met with three very worried but relieved faces. James, Sirius and Peter sat next to his bed, the cup of water in James’ hands.
”Hi Remus.” Sirius smiled softly.
”Hullo…” Remus’ throat was still scratchy but the presence of his friends soothed his mind and brought a fuzzy feeling to his stomach.
”What time is it?” Remus had no idea how long he had been asleep and was eager to know.
”Just before lunch, we managed to make Madam Pomfrey agree to letting us see you.” James gave a weak worried smile and offered the cup of water, which Remus took gratefully.
Peter fiddled with his hands before looking up at Remus worriedly, ”We were really worried… it’s good to see you awake.” James and Sirius nodded, giving Remus relieved smiles.
Remus felt a smile tugging up at his lips. His friends were here for him again, they worried for him and it warmed Remus’ heart.
Too soon they needed to leave, but not before giving Remus a stack of papers and a wink from Sirius, ”Can’t let you miss out can we.”
And with that his friends were gone and Remus was once more alone, but this time he felt content he had hope, he had his friends.