"For the first time ever I had friends, three great friends."
Chapter Seven: Passwords and Lies
Sirius watched as Slytherins walked past him completely oblivious to what the dark haired boy was contemplating. He looked at each one of them as they walked by, sizing them up until he found the perfect one. He was a small boy, compared to the others, and Sirius knew that he spent the majority of his time alone. Making it so no one would miss him if he disappeared temporarily for a quick questioning that was in store for him. Another perk to having this boy being their possible victim, was that the boy would most likely be too scared to snitch to the others about the interrogation. And yet, at the same time, he would also be scared enough to tell them exactly what they needed to know.
Sirius smiled wickedly to himself before he contently took to walking swiftly down the hallway to where his friends were to meet him, just outside of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He then made his way out of the dungeons, slowly calculating everything they would need to do as he walked to the meeting place. When he turned the corner on the first floor, he saw James first and immediately made a beeline toward him.
"Have you got one?" Peter asked eagerly when Sirius came into view. He silently gawked at Sirius' talent knowing that he could never pick out someone for this particular part of the plan.
"Yes." Sirius grinned at them like a madman.
"Well, who?" James insisted, knowing full well that if he didn't Sirius would keep playing his mind game with them.
"Travis Travers," Sirius said in a low whisper. After he had uttered the name his grin grew even larger, if that was indeed possible.
James's mouth contorted into a grin that matched Sirius's almost exactly, as he pictured the small boy in his head. "Perfect."
Sirius opened his mouth to retort with a smug reply but Peter interrupted him before he could say anything cocky. "We should get back to the common room. We look too suspicious gathered here. Plus all the teachers have you two pinned as troublemakers."
Sirius and James felt themselves roll their eyes at their younger friend but started to walk down the hall in the direction of their common room anyway. All the while, Peter struggled to keep up with their large strides. When they finally reached the fat lady’s portrait, Peter issued a breathless password. The portrait flung open, and the boys stepped inside the small hole. They dropped their belongings on top of one of the wooden table that sat just under the large window on the right wall adjacent to the fireplace. They sat down in the collection of chairs that were gathered there slightly distressed that the older students had taken the coveted spot in front of the fireplace.
Sirius took out a small checklist they had made when Remus was still with them and found that the only thing they needed was the password. Peter had finally gotten down the memory charm they needed during their free period the day before. And now all of them just wanted to get to work. Sirius found himself growing impatient as they waited for Remus's return from his extensive leave of absence.
It had been almost three whole days since that afternoon with Hagrid and there still was no word from Remus. There was no letter saying he was fine or that he had gone to see his cousin. Nothing. During these three days, both James and Sirius had convinced themselves that Hagrid had only received a bit of misinformation about their friend and that Madame Pomfrey had only escorted him to his parents, who were waiting for him in Hogsmeade. At least that was what they hoped was the case. They didn't really have anything else to go on. Do to this small fact the three remaining boys had silently agreed not to mention any of their suspicions when Remus did return, just incase they were wrong. And also the added fact that they didn’t have a clue as to how they would explain any of this if they were to confront him with it.
Blatantly, calling their friend a liar was not an option in any of their minds. This was the main thought on all the boys’ heads as they got comfortable at the table. Which ultimately, left them to sit there in silence, while they looked at each other contently before anyone dared to speak.
"When do you think Remus'll be back?" Peter asked, breaking the increasingly unwanted silence.
James and Sirius just shrugged their shoulders at the question for they were both thinking the exact same thing. James quickly busied himself by gathering his book bag and when he had he looked up at the others, "I'm going to put this stuff away." Hoping for a change of subject.
Apparently, it was successful because the others simply nodded their heads and followed him up to their dorm. Once James had entered the room with the others closely behind him, and had put his books away, he unconsciously looked over towards Remus' bed; a habit he had subconsciously held every since Remus had disappeared. The curtains were drawn to a close, which was odd considering they had been open for the past few days since, obviously, no one had been around to use them. James smiled to himself as Sirius moved from his spot on his own bed over to Remus' after noticing the same thing James had. They stood outside the warded bed, until Sirius, in one swift action, pulled the curtains back open letting sunlight shine onto a peacefully sleeping Remus.
James stared at him, somewhat shocked by the boy's appearance as the sunlight began to have an affect on Remus and he began to stir. When the boy had gathered his surroundings he sat up and looked around at each of them in turn with a slightly shocked look on his face. James had noticed straight away that Remus’ eyes were glazed and had dark circles under them. His face was also pale and had one small cut on the upper portion of his cheek that resembled a deep dog scratch that was still in the process of healing. His frame seemed weak and there were a few more scratches similar to the one on his face that ran down his arms. Remus, by instinct, grabbed a sweatshirt from off of the floor and quickly put it on, not wanting them to see his current state anymore than they already had.
"So how's your cousin?" Peter asked, utterly oblivious to Remus's condition.
"What?" Remus looked confused and then finally what Peter was referring to clicked in his head. His face began to turn a shade of red, "Oh, er, she's fine ... doing much better anyway. The doctors are saying she may be allowed to leave St. Mungo’s very soon."
Sirius gave him a quizzical look but when he failed to read Remus' embarrassed expression he turned to the one thing at hand. "Are you up to a bit of fun?"
James frowned at Sirius. This was not a good time for that, but to his surprise he saw Remus nod his head willingly.
"What kind of fun?"
Sirius smiled and looked up at James, who he knew was openly frowning upon this idea of his. "Well, we still have one more class to go through, if you feel up to attending it, and then afterwards we could get the last bit we need for our prank."
James smiled as he thought about their prank, but it faded slightly as he looked at Remus, who was evidently thinking through all of his options. No matter how much he wanted to do the prank he was more concerned with Remus’ health, and if he wasn’t up to it, he did not want Sirius to push the subject.
"I'll go. Erm, what class is it?" Remus asked stupidly. He didn't even remember what day it was, let alone how long he had been secluded in the infirmary with a very fussy Madame Pomfrey. So, he most assuredly wasn’t even able to guess what class they were supposed to be at.
James looked at Remus dumbfounded, but answered his question anyway. "Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins."
Remus grimaced but thought on the issue temporarily. "How about this, I'll meet you when class ends and then we can get the password."
James and Sirius nodded, not knowing what else to do with their friend. "Sounds good," Sirius and James said in unison.
When the group of boys fell into a deafening silence Sirius decided to pick up his book for Defense Against the Dark Arts and shoved it into Peter's bag, in an attempt to keep his mind busy during the silence that was unbearable: or at least it was for him. The other two followed Sirius' lead and picked up their own supplies for that particular class and then went down to lunch, waving a quick goodbye to Remus as they left to room. Ultimately, leaving him to rest in peace. They made their way down to the Great Hall in silence, because none of them had any clue as to what to say to each other, or even how to put the thoughts they did have into words. So they just took their usual seats at the very end of the Gryffindor table, well out of everyone's earshot and ate their food.
"Did you see that scratch on his face?" James asked as soon as his lunch had appeared before him. He couldn't take not talking about what they had just seen any longer.
Sirius looked at him. "Yeah, but I wasn't going to say anything." He took a large bite of his turkey sandwich. "I mean for all we know he might have a hyper dog that jumps on you the moment you enter your house. I mean you remember how my dog, Circinus, used to act each time we entered the house."
James nodded his head in agreement. That had indeed been one hyper dog. You never could escape the wrath of its claws, because it would jump up to lick you and if you had shorts on or even a short sleeved shirt you were bound to get ruffed up. But James also doubted that that was the case, somehow to him, Remus didn’t seem like a dog person. So "could be" was all James could manage to say in reply.
"But I thought he was visiting his cousin at the hospital, why would there be dogs there?" Peter asked sheepishly, not sure if he was just over thinking again.
Sirius looked at him. "Well, he probably went home sometime. Honestly, who on earth wants to spend all of their time in a hospital? There dreadful places, so depressing, plus the healers are creepy."
"That's your opinion. If my cousin were sick, like Remus's, I'd spend all my time by her side," James said, knowing full well Sirius had a major fear of both healers and blood, and that both could be found in a hospital.
Peter looked at them. "Well, Madame Pomfrey's a healer and she isn't creepy."
Sirius glared at the small boy. That wasn't his point. "I know that. I'm just saying sometimes you have to get away from those places even if someone you love is in pain because it'll only make you hurt too." Sirius' eyes grew dim with his last comment.
James had lost his grandmother to a terrible illness only a year ago and knew full well what Remus was going through. James thought back on the experience, for she had been as much Sirius's grandmother as his because Sirius was always over when James’s family visited, or even when he didn't. Sirius was pretty much like a second child to the Potters. And because of this it had hurt Sirius to see that woman slowly die, as much as it had for James, because Sirius had never even cared to know his own grandparents, for they had been terrible people, like the rest of the Black family, and saw Sirius as anything but a grandson. Sirius was dead and determined to detach himself as much as possible from his own family. But then again, it also seemed that it was during that period of time that Sirius had added the healers to his small list of fears.
James gave Sirius a weak smile in the midst of his thoughts and resigned the conversation with the only thing he could think of. "I guess you’re right."
Peter looked at the two of them as they gave each other that look that he had learned meant that they, once again, were sharing a moment that didn't involve him in any way shape or form. He sighed deeply feeling out of the loop and also completely useless. So he poked at his food resentfully until he found the ultimate subject changer. "So, did any of you understand the homework?"
James and Sirius looked at him amazed at how easily he could just change a subject of that particular caliber. "Yeah, why?"
"I didn't."
A girl, who was sitting down the table a little ways from them, stifled a laugh. They had been so busy talking amongst themselves they hadn't even noticed that she'd sat down next to them. Sirius turned and looked at her. "You think that's funny?" He stated edgily.
James looked at her and realized she was the muggleborn girl that always sat with the Weasley family, and was also the one he'd talked to about Quidditch on their first day at school. "Hello, Lily," he greeted. Sirius gave him a curious look as he handed Peter the assignment for the day so he could copy it, hopefully, not word for word.
"Hello," she said shyly, now not very sure of what she would say. "I was just listening to what you were saying. Who has a sick cousin?"
"None of your business," Sirius warned with growing irritation.
The red-headed girl's bright green eyes dulled a bit as she searched for something clever to say back to him. "James, did you try out for the Quidditch team?" she asked quickly once she realized that she had no comebacks to give him. So she just opted to ignore Sirius altogether instead.
"Yeah. I didn't make the team, though."
"That's too bad." She looked down at her empty plate searching for something else to say but ultimately couldn't think of anything. "Well, I had better go." And with that she got up and left the hall.
"A bit nosy, isn't she?" Sirius said eyeing James, who nodded absentmindedly to what Sirius had said, still not seeing the harm in her curiosity.
"She didn't mean anything by it." He looked down at his own watch. "You done Peter?" The boy nodded his head. "Then we best be getting off to class then."
They stood up once Peter had put both his and Sirius's assignments into his bag and wondered to the first floor. They went inside, avoiding all possible contact with any of the Slytherins, and sat at the back of the room. James just set his bag down and walked over to where Lily was sitting in the front row.
She was busy talking with another girl, most likely one of the other girls in her dormitory room. He watched her smile for a bit and then finally cleared his throat to get her attention. She just looked up and smiled at him as the girl she had been talking with giggled slightly at her side.
"Er, I just wanted to apologize for Sirius," he said after Lily’s friend had gained her composure. Unfortunately, she had settled into watching him closely as he talked to her friend.
"Oh, it's no problem. I really had no right butting in on you guys anyway," Lily stated sincerely as she continued to smile up at James.
He smiled back at her. "Yeah, well, I just thought I'd make sure it was OK because you left in a bit of a rush."
The girl just smiled at him. "Oh, really there's no problem."
Professor Malvitz walked into the room and directed everyone to sit in their seats. Lily looked up at James as he started to walk back to his seat. "Hey, it was nice talking with you again." And with that she turned back to the front of the room.
James smirked to himself as he went to sit next to Sirius who was giving him a quizzical look. He ignored Sirius' confused expression and took out his parchment and quill as Professor Malvitz went on about dark curses.
It was unbelievable listening to this man speak. He always made it sound as if there was a person out there, right now, lurking, just waiting to put the Imperious Curse on you. Even though it was terribly exciting listening to him talk about such curses, James found that he really wasn’t in the mood for note taking. So, instead of that, James just made himself busy by writing little notes back and forth with Sirius during the duration of the hour as Peter attentively took notes that the other two would copy down for their own use later on.
Class ended quickly enough, though not without a long essay due on the powers of dark wizards due at the beginning of class the following Monday. James exited the class carrying both his own books and Sirius’s. He had to remember to ask Peter if he was ever going to buy Sirius a new bag, because he knew Sirius would never write his parents and ask for a new one. They'd never send him one anyway. They'd only come back with an answer telling him that he was irresponsible and that it was his own fault that his bag had been reduced to ashes on the first day of school. Then they would probably add a side note telling him that he was a terrible excuse for a son. None of these things were something someone would want to hear on any occasion, so James understood why Sirius tried his best not to give them excuses to do so.
He sighed to himself as he spotted Remus, true to his word, standing across the hall waiting faithfully for them to join him. The boy looked worse in the lighting of the hall. The window he was standing under was shining on him so that it shaded the dark circles under his eyes, even more, giving him a very eerie stature. Despite that obvious frailty the boy was showing, he seemed fine. So, the three boys walked over to Remus, who simply gave them a weak smile as some sort of greeting.
"Hey, Remus," Sirius said. Then his face grew serious as he looked at each boy in turn finally stopping once more on Remus. "Now we're after Travis Travers, no one else." He then looked at them all once more stopping yet again on Remus. "You do know which one that is right?" Remus nodded. "Good, now let's just split up and wait for him okay." They all nodded and then broke into their separate corners. Somehow knowing precisely where to go without ever even uttering a single word to one another concerning such a thing.
They only had to wait a few seconds before Travis came out of the classroom. They had noticed, over the last few days, that he had the relatively annoying habit of staying after a class had finished so he could ask the teacher bothersome questions on the lesson to clarify the bits and pieces of the lectures that he, even after speaking with them, would never understand. When he had finally exited the room James signaled to Sirius, Remus, and Peter to start moving in on him. They then began to move slowly towards the boy.
Travis looked up at the two boys as they came towards him in fright. He didn't want to cause any trouble, especially with those two, whom everyone had learned early on that anything with them could lead to nothing less than trouble. Travis instinctively moved to the left as he tried his best to avoid any confrontations with them when Peter came in and blocked his way out. Sirius smiled wickedly as he and James crowded around the boy that was roughly the same height as Peter.
Sirius spoke briskly. "What's the password to your common room?" he asked calmly.
Travis's facial features changed from fear to fury. "I'm not telling you," he retorted once he had mustered up as much courage as he could.
James and Sirius looked at each other, exchanging quick glances they chuckled bleakly at him. "Really, and how are you going to stop us?" James inquired.
The boy said nothing. He just turned around, making one last attempt to get away from the three boys, only to find himself facing Remus, who had his head tilted in such a way that he was using his tired eyes to their full advantage. The young boy’s eyes grew incredibly wide as he looked at Remus’ face, which was turned down so that the light’s shadow loomed over his eyes making them dark and emotionless. Travis gave a small squeal as Remus edged towards him, keeping his head bent down menacingly. "What is the password?" Remus growled. Travis didn't say anything at first and then, as if he had suddenly realized that there was no way out of his situation he finally muttered something unintelligible under his breath.
"What was that?" Sirius asked.
The boy just looked up at the four of them with tears beginning to brim in his scared eyes. "Sacron," Travis said and then he turned his face to the ground as if his spirit had been crushed.
"Thank you very much," Peter said in an incredibly chipper voice under the circumstances.
"See it wasn't that hard," Sirius stated smugly.
The boy didn't even bother to look up at any of them when he left. He just moved as quickly as he could down the hall trying his best to go in the opposite direction from the four boys, attempting to get as far away from them as he could. James and Sirius watched intently as the boy began to back up, but once he had turned around and had taken one step in his intended direction, Remus grabbed the back of his robes and turned Travis around to face him. "If you say one word to the others," he warned, "I'll come after you." The boy’s eyes grew wide with added fear as he nodded violently in reply. Remus let him go and Travis immediately sprinted out of sight.
Once the boy had gone around the first corner James turned to Remus. "That was a bit harsh, wasn't it?"
Remus turned to them and shrugged, not entirely happy with what he’d done but also realizing the fact that he couldn’t take it back just offered: "Well, we don't want him telling, do we?" as a way to explain his behavior.
Sirius and James exchanged glances. No they didn't want him telling anyone about what had just happened, but they also hadn’t wanted to scare him that badly. James finally shrugged his shoulders, what was done, was done, there was no use dwelling on it. He then turned to Sirius. "Well, we've got the password. Are you happy now?" Sirius nodded. "So when are we going to go through with this?"
Sirius thought for a second. "Tomorrow night. I should really get started on my Potions homework."
James laughed. It just figured that Sirius would do something like that. He always managed to complain about something extensively and then when they finally could do whatever it was they had planed, or had wanted, he'd tell him to wait until later to actually use it. James looked at his friends and smiled at their accomplishment. This was the first thing they had ever done together and everything was going as perfectly as they could have possibly hoped for.
They then made their way back to their own common room, quietly talking in happy whispers amongst themselves about what they had just done. Once they had reached their common room Sirius had kindly pointed out the one perk about their whole plan coming to an end: The moment they had been waiting for, and how that, in approximately forty-eight hours, Snape would wish he had never even been born.