Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. The Harry Potter universe was created by JK Rowling and therefore belongs to her and her various publishers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's note: Since I've got the hang of how to do it since posting this story first, I reformated this chapter. Looks better now!
Revelation
chapter one: after and before
"Let's get properly drunk tomorrow night!" suggested Sirius excitedly.
"Why tomorrow?" asked Peter, looking up from his Potions book.
"Don't be so dense, Pete!" Sirius rolled his eyes. "It's Prongs' first date with Lily. He finally talked and pranked her into oblivion and we should celebrate this, don't you think? Remus are you with me?" The tall black-haired boy faced his other roommate.
Remus grinned. "Sure, why not?"
"Excellent!" exclaimed Sirius jumping on his bed. "Three Broomsticks or Hog's Head?"
Remus frowned. "You want to leave the castle?"
"Yes, smart ass, or do you piss Firewhiskey?" Sirius grinned mischievously. "And it's not as if we've never done it before."
"Look, Padfoot, it's a Hogsmeade weekend anyway. Why don't we get the Firewhiskey tomorrow afternoon and get drunk in here?" asked Remus.
"The Prefect's talking, I knew it," Sirius said, sulking. "Without James it's no fun!"
Remus watched his friend bemusedly. Padfoot, as he was called, was doubtless the most daring of the Marauders but closely followed by James Potter. They were more like twins anyway and seemed to share one mind. But Remus guessed that Sirius only wanted to get drunk in Hogsmeade because he wanted to annoy James, who would be there on his date with Lily Evans. There was something in Sirius' grey, fathomless eyes that didn't fit his boisterous behaviour.
"You'll leave Prongs and Lily alone! It's their first date for heaven's sake. Go and prank them the day after that."
"Wormtail, are you in?" asked Sirius stubbornly.
"Nah, sorry mate, I think Moony is right," said the smallest of the three, eyes still fixed on the book. "I still have to write my extra Potions essay since you genius distracted me during the lesson. We go to Hogsmeade and get the booze and we'll get drunk afterwards in the dorm. Deal?"
Sirius Black knew when he was outvoted. "Yeah, deal…"
The door of the dormitory flew open and another boy stormed in, grinning madly.
"Tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life!" he cried happily, jumping on Remus' bed and knocking his friend over.
Sirius rolled his eyes again. "Yeah, we know Prongs. You've told us about a billion times over the last days. I wished Lily would have waited till today. She would have spared Moony a few grey hairs."
Remus, who had just recovered from his friend's exuberance, looked up, smiling slightly. Only Sirius could joke about his condition like that. Since he had been bitten by a werewolf and had to go through very painful transformations every month, he felt uneasy about his body. He was covered in scars and his light brown hair already had a few streaks of grey. He had never meant to tell his friends, lest they turn their backs on him disgustedly, but they had found out anyway. And they had surprised Remus Lupin by assuring him of their friendship and they had even spent years trying to turn into animagi in order to keep him company during the full moon. Whatever James Potter and Sirius Black got into their heads they always succeeded. They had become Animagi almost three years ago in their fifth year at Hogwarts. Even Peter had managed the complicated magic, though admittedly with lots of help from Sirius and James.
"Oh, Moony, are you alright?" James had just realised that he had almost knocked Remus off the bed.
"I'm just peachy, you great prat," grumbled Remus and stumbled to his feet. "And instead of knocking me on my butt you should thank me on your knees for keeping Padfoot away from Hogsmeade tomorrow evening."
James spun around immediately. "Padfoot, you wouldn't dare!"
Grey eyes met blue ones. "Dare me, do you?" was the sly answer.
"Moony, you keep him here! Make sure he's busy with some girl he hasn't dated yet."
"Nope, no girls tomorrow. We're getting drunk!"
„Yeah, if you mess it up you're welcome to join us!" grinned Sirius.
James answered this offer by throwing one of Moony's pillows. Sirius broke out in a barking laughter and grabbed his own pillow.
"Can't you be quiet for one minute? I'm trying to write an essay here!" came Peter's squeaky and slightly annoyed voice.
"Bugger off and write it in the Common Room!" answered James and Sirius simultaneously. They looked at each other and were shaking with another fit of laughter.
Remus shrugged. "I'll come with you, Wormtail. Let these morons fight. Maybe they're too exhausted for snoring toni - " With that he ducked and only narrowly escaped two flying pillows.
Remus left Peter in the Common Room and went to the library. NEWTS were coming up and contrary to James and Sirius he actually had to study for good marks. Not surprisingly he discovered a familiar redhead. Lily Evans had been made Head Girl and in Remus' opinion she deserved this. She was a brilliant witch but was working hard to get top marks nonetheless. He and Lily had spent many hours in the library studying Arithmancy, Defense against the Dark Arts and Charms, which both of them loved. She was a very kind and compassionate girl and, of course, the declared love of James' life. Remus smiled when he approached her.
"Hey Lily, may I take a seat?"
"Of course, Remus," smiled Lily back and little sparks were dancing in her deep green eyes. Remus understood perfectly why James was in love with Lily Evans. Not that he was jealous. He had accepted the fact that he would never have what Lily and James were doubtlessly going to have. Being a werewolf had several drawbacks. Loneliness and secrecy were two of them. Being forced to be better than others in order to have the slightest chance of getting a job was another. Remus sighed inwardly.
"Are you excited about tomorrow?" asked Remus.
"Yes, but don't tell James. I still think I must be mad to have accepted a date with him." Her tone was joking but her eyes betrayed the affection she felt for James Potter.
"I'm glad you finally did," Remus answered warmly and smiled because she had called his friend 'James' and not 'Potter' like she used to.
They were both silent for a couple of minutes while Remus got two rolls of parchment and an old quill out of his bag. He really needed to buy a new one soon.
"Remus, would you do me a favour?" broke Lily the silence.
"Sure, what is it?"
"I'd like you to answer a question. Honestly!"
"Alright."
"Why doesn't Black like me anymore?"
"P…pardon?" he asked perplexedly.
She giggled slightly. "Not like that, silly. I just noticed…he is looking at me lately as if I personally offended him. Apart from that he is ignoring me. Why is that?"
Remus thought about this for a moment and decided not to tell her what he suspected to be the truth. He didn't like lying to Lily but Sirius was one of his best friends. Why had she noticed anyway? They weren't exactly friends. But then again, Lily was a smart and observant girl. Lying wasn't easy but what he was about to say wasn't far from the truth, either.
"I think it has something to do how he feels about James. They are like brothers. You turned him down so often…yes, he deserved this! But you turned him down so often that…well, I guess he is a bit overprotective, that's all."
Lily had watched him intensely but Remus was used to having secrets and concealing the truth.
"Alright, if that's what you think…well, I guess, he'll calm down, won't he?"
"Sure! He'll be his old silly self before you can say 'Giant Squid'."
She giggled again and for the rest of the evening they were working on and talking quietly but animatedly about their latest Arithmancy homework.
They went back to Gryffindor Tower together. When they entered the Common Room it was almost deserted. Almost – but for the three other Marauders and four fifth years. Remus scanned his friends' reaction to their entry. All of them were sitting close to the fireplace. James was smiling broadly, Peter was waving to them to join the party and Sirius…Sirius was staring at them enigmatically. This was getting strange, thought Remus. He sat down in a comfortable armchair across from Sirius, who was sprawling on a little sofa. James asked Lily about her day and what she had been doing so long in the library. When they started chatting Remus took out a book in order to disguise his real intention. Peter was trying to engage Sirius in a conversation about Bat Bogey hexes but Sirius' answers were mono-syllabic. He was obviously brooding. After about fifteen minutes he got up, said good night and rushed up into their dormitory. Remus looked at Lily who had had the same idea. Their eyes met and he felt slightly guilty but only shrugged apologetically. They were the only ones who had noticed Sirius Black's odd behaviour. Remus waited some more minutes, yawning demonstratively.
"Well, I'm going to bed. Night Peter, Lily…Prongs. Don't do anything Sirius wouldn't."
They laughed and bid him goodnight.
When he arrived in their dorm he scanned the room for his friend. Sirius was sitting in front of a window and staring outside. It was dark and Remus saw only a silhouette. He sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. Sirius was quite outspoken about his feelings but when he noticed that someone tried to pry he could be extremely stubborn.
"Hey Padfoot, you're not sleeping yet?"
"Apparently not," was the brusque answer.
Remus closed the distance and noticed that Sirius wasn't wearing anything but his pants. He shook his head. Remus never felt comfortable without proper clothing and especially not on a cold winter night in a huge castle. It was even snowing! But Sirius was apparently oblivious and he didn't want to play the mother.
"Padfoot, what's up?" he asked carefully.
He heard a deep breath.
"Moony, I know that you won't believe me when I say 'nothing' but I don't feel like talking about it right now."
Silence. "Alright…whenever you feel like it…anytime," said Remus slowly, headed to his own bed and changed for the night.
After lying down and before he eventually fell asleep Remus thought about the changes in Sirius' life. He had almost destroyed Remus' own life by telling Snape to go into the Shrieking Shack at a full moon. Remus had been shocked and appalled when he found out the next morning. He hadn't talked to Sirius for about two weeks. But Sirius had come every day and apologized. He seemed to be broken and Remus had never seen him so vulnerable. It was then that Remus got to know a completely different Sirius. A scared and lonely one. A Sirius very much dependent on his friends. It was the first time that Sirius had reminded him of himself.
After Remus had forgiven him and everything at least appeared to be back to normal, Sirius had turned back into his usual arrogant, boisterous and self-confident self. Almost. During the summer holidays he left his parents' house for good and moved in with the Potters. After that he had started writing to Remus. At first, the letters were short and still apologetic but then they became increasingly longer. Remus was shocked at what he found out about his friend's family. They wrote about other stuff as well and became closer though they didn't see each other once due to Remus staying on the Isle of Man with his parents. But then they returned to school and things changed again. Or so it may have seemed.
...to be coninued
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