Chapter Twenty Four: Moon
Sirius loved roaming about with Remus and the other Marauders in animal form at the full moon. He had just finished his last OWL, so there was no reason to study for the last couple of weeks of the school year. Snivellus had given him a bit of a scare over by the lake the other day, but thinking of his scrawny legs and grey pants exposed for the whole school to see still made him chuckle. Except that his mate was in trouble with Lily now. No, don't think about that. Full moon, no more studying, Snivelly upside down with his legs in the air. That was more like it.
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Another bloody moon. Tonight.
Remus was pacing in his dormitory. Yes, he was building up a fine case of nerves, just like always. The actual transformation and its aftermath were bad enough -- why did he have to let it screw up the day or two before, too? He concentrated on his breathing, and tried to think of something else, but all he could think about was Snape hanging upside down, Lily yelling at James, and blood on Sirius and James' faces. Not too pleasant.
He pulled his Transfiguration text out of his book bag and tried to study. Concentrating on a difficult subject could usually crowd everything else out of his mind. It was amazing how much revising or homework he could get done in the days before the moon. But no, that wasn't working either. OWLs were finished and there just didn't seem much point to it. In a couple of days, he'd be glad for that, but right now it was just one more thing that left him jittery.
Nothing for it. Time to run. Robe off, shorts and t-shirt on, trainers. He ran down the stairs, one of the few times he was glad the Gryffindor rooms were up so many flights of stairs. He ran as if he were running away from somebody or something, and he was, sort of. He was running from the wolf. From his own jittery nerves.
Faster, faster, he made it down the stairs and out of the castle. Run so fast you can't think, so fast all you can think of is taking the next breath and making the next stride and now, oh that's good, the stitch in your side. For the blessed half hour, much too short, that he could keep going at that pace, he was able to keep his mind blank.
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James, Sirius and Peter left the dorm to go down to dinner. Remus was nowhere to be seen. They found him when they reached the Great Hall, leaning against the wall in his running clothes and bouncing a leg nervously. This was the only time Remus was actually more hyperactive than Sirius.
"Hey, Moony!" said Sirius, coming up to him and punching him in the shoulder. "I hope you caught her."
"Wha- ," said Remus, confused. Of course, the closer it got to moonrise, the harder it was to think straight. Not from the curse, from the nerves. At this rate, he'd soon have trouble understanding "Hello."
"You know, the girl you were chasing that got you so out of breath," he said, grinning broadly at his own joke.
"Oh, ha!" Remus said sarcastically, but couldn't help a snicker of his own. It didn't matter if Sirius actually said something funny, just the "innocent little me" look in those eyes combined with that wicked, shit-eating grin got them every time. James was guffawing, and Peter was making the quiet, gasping noises that meant he was laughing too hard to make much sound. Good old Sirius. Always good for a laugh. Which was very good right about now.
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After dinner, in the Gryffindor common room, the fifth years had taken over the area by the fireplace. It appeared that half the boys and some of the girls had managed to acquire an alcoholic beverage of some sort. James had come up with a large punch bowl, into which he was pouring whatever was on offer. Firewhiskey joined butterbeer joined the occasional bottle of wine.
Remus let James ladle out a cupful of the weird concoction and sipped it, surprised that it wasn't half bad. Still, his transformation couldn't be delayed to celebrate OWLs, so he only had time for one drink before he had to report to Madam Pomfrey. Moonrise wasn't for another good two hours, but the routine called for him to report two hours before moonrise. No last minute dashes allowed.
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Severus finally managed to corner Avery after dinner on the last day of OWLs in the crowded Slytherin common room.
"Avery? Could I have a word?" Snape said, approaching the boy, who was flanked by Black and Crouch.
"Oh, Snape," Avery drawled, pretending to be surprised that Snape was approaching him. "Don't see what you want with me. You seemed quite capable of taking care of yourself the other day."
"I was out of line," Severus forced himself to say. "Do you want me to apologize to Potter and Black?"
Avery was relieved to find Snape still under his control, but he was angry at him for scaring him like that. Might as well make him sweat a bit, first.
"That's an excellent idea, I'm sure, but I don't know why I should care what you do," he said coolly. I'll take him back tomorrow, after he's had a chance to sleep on it, Avery thought maliciously.
Severus stood there, silent. He'd just been dropped, publicly. He felt like he was falling into an abyss...
"Actually, Morgan, I think it would be a rather bad idea myself." Evan Rosier had come up to join the small group. "Not really a good idea to let the Gryffs think it's okay to pick on us Slytherins, is it?"
Avery turned to look at Rosier, stunned. "As I said, Snape will do as he pleases. I'm sure I don't care."
"Really?" Rosier asked, feigning surprise. "I didn't realize Snape was free."
"Well, I don't know how many times I have to say it," Avery said, annoyed. "It's up to him to do what he wants."
"Well, that's good to hear," Rosier said with a wide grin. "Severus, old boy, would you come up to the dormitory? I'd like to discuss a few things with you."
"Yes, Evan," said Severus, carefully keeping his tone from revealing his sense of elation.
Avery stood there, speechless.
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James saw Remus leave, and glanced at the lunar hand on his watch. Near the two-hour point then. After another hour of celebrating with the other fifth years, he rounded up Sirius and Peter and herded them out of the common room. Once they were outside, he asked Peter, "Got everything?"
"Yup," said Peter. "Bottle of Firewhiskey." He patted a bulge on the right of his robes. "Sober-up potion." He pulled a flask out of his left pocket with his left hand, and lifted it up in a toast. He was the best sneak thief in their little group, and it made him feel important to provide the remedies for their "celebrations."
"Sober-up?" asked Sirius. "What do we need that for?"
"You want to run with Moony tonight, don't you, Padfoot?" said James. At Sirius' nod, he continued, "Well then, we need to be sober. Sorry, no nodding off to sleep in a drunken haze tonight."
"Oh, hell, Prongs, you're no fun. What's the use of getting drunk if you have to go to bed sober?"
"It's just a sacrifice you'll have to make for a fellow Marauder," James intoned in mock seriousness.
"I'll drink to that," said Sirius, and he took a swig from the bottle of Firewhiskey that Peter put in his hand.
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An hour and a half to moon-rise. It only took half an hour to report to Madam Pomfrey, go with her to the Whomping Willow, and then walk, bent over, the half mile to the Shrieking Shack. Sirius wouldn't be here for another hour at least. It was too boring knocking about a boring old house with boring Remus.
The werewolf paced. An hour and twenty-five minutes to moon-rise, fifty-five minutes to Sirius. Really, he didn't know why he let himself get worked up like this. He had about an hour to relax and daydream or read, if he'd had a book he felt like reading. Then half an hour to kill with Sirius. James couldn't fit through the tunnel to the Shack as a stag and didn't dare come in human form. Peter didn't like to be there for the transformations.
Then about five minutes of pure agony while he transformed.
Then, the grey images of running with the dog and the stag. In his wolf form, he didn't remember their names; he just knew that their smells identified them as friends. Running, interesting smells, the breeze in his fur. He remembered his first transformation, back when he was eight, and how cheated he had felt to have no memory of being a wolf at all. When he ran with the Marauders, he remembered, after a fashion.
Then another five minutes of pure agony while he transformed back.
Sirius would be there, again. Right there, as a dog during the transformation, and as a human when Remus was human again. He would levitate Remus to the bedroom, clean away any blood (not much when Remus ran with the Marauders), and give him the restorative draught that Madam Pomfrey always sent with the werewolf. Then Sirius would sit with him and tell him in great and hilarious detail everything the four of them had done that night. When he felt up to it, he'd get dressed and Sirius would walk back to the Infirmary with him.
It had been much different before Sirius. Then, he would lay on the floor after transforming back, every muscle aching, flashes of pain from gashes and bites. After maybe half an hour, he would feel up to moving as far as the couch, and he would Summon his wand from the high shelf where he put it out of reach of the wolf. Then he would Summon the restorative draught, drink it, and wait for it to take effect. Only then would he finally get dressed, and start the half mile back to Hogwarts, bent over, through the tunnel. Then to the Infirmary, where he could finally collapse again and let someone else clean him and take care of his injuries.
So really, there was nothing to it. Just two five-minute episodes of pure agony. No problem.
He'd often wondered how his transformation pain compared to the Cruciatus Curse. Sometimes he thought idly of asking Snape to give him a demonstration. He knew the Slytherin could do it and performed it often for Avery. It was illegal to use an Unforgivable on a human, but Remus was a werewolf. Lots of people had told him werewolves weren't really human.
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James and Sirius and Peter sat on the grass between the Whomping Willow and the Forbidden Forest, drinking, and celebrating the end of OWLs. James looked at his watch. "Half an hour to moonrise, Padfoot. Time to transform and keep Moony company."
"No hurry. If he doesn't come out of the tunnel right away, I'll go in for him. I'm still celebrating," said Sirius. He didn't like the idea of leaving Remus alone during his transformation, but he was too drunk to think very clearly and he really didn't like the idea of taking the Sober-up Potion.
James looked at him sternly, but Sirius didn't notice the disapproval in his eyes. "Okay. Well, Peter, time for you and me to change, anyway."
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Severus was feeling almost light-headed. He was free of Avery. Evan was even going to claim to have done Lucius a favor by picking Snape up after Avery had dropped him. He didn't need to worry about the Felix Felicis anymore. Maybe he should try to get some anyway. It would be a nice gesture for Rosier.
It was strange to think he wouldn't be torturing any more small woodland creatures. He realized he would miss it, but he also realized that meant something was wrong. Well, now he would have time to figure out what the problem was and how to fix it. Something to do with the Cruciatus Curse?
In the meantime, OWLs were over and he had a decent superior for the first time since first year. He was free to do as he wished this evening. Some, but by no means all, of the fifth year Slytherins were drinking in the common room. Severus picked up the Hesper Starkey book on potions and moon phases that he'd gotten way back in second year and started to flip through it. Tonight's the full moon, he thought. I wonder if there's anything interesting I could start tonight.
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James and Peter had taken Sober-up and abandoned him with the remaining dose. Sirius was alone with the rest of the Firewhiskey.
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Ten minutes to moonrise and Sirius still wasn't there. Remus wondered whether that meant they weren't going out running with him and he'd be trapped in the Shack alone again. Maybe Sirius wouldn't be there in the morning after he transformed back, either. He took off his clothes, folded them neatly, and levitated them to the same high shelf that already contained the restorative draught. Then he pulled a chair over to the shelf and stood on it so he could place his wand there too. Sirius wasn't there to levitate it up for him, so he did what he used to do before Sirius would accompany him.
Nothing more to do. Remus curled himself into a ball on the couch. He finally gave into his nerves and began to shudder and shake uncontrollably.
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Author's notes:
Canon doesn't mention Avery's first name, so I chose "Morgan."
We don't know exactly how old Remus was when he was bitten. I chose eight years old.
Posted by Madmaxime at January 2, 2007 06:46 PM