Dinner Parties and Bad News
“What’s the answer to number five?”
“How should I know?”
“You’re on question eight, Remus.”
“I skipped five.”
“You’re no help to me. James, what’d you get?”
“Hmm… what’d you say, mate?”
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were sitting in the common room Tuesday night, working on their Transfiguration homework. It was the first night they had done their work together, all four of them, since James, Sirius and Peter found out about Remus’s secret. As they sat around the table in front of the fireplace, it felt like they had never been separated. They talked and laughed just as they always had. The only change was that that they talked a bit more, laughed louder. Professor McGonagall had given them a particularly difficult assignment in which they had to answer questions about the origins of modern day Transfiguration.
James, who was the furthest behind in his work due to Quidditch practises, was currently staring across the common room, an odd expression on his face.
“What are you looking at?” Sirius asked, whipping his head around to where James was gazing. Sirius rolled his eyes when he caught sight of the object of James’s stare. It was Lily Evans. She was sitting with Frank and Alice, chatting lively about something they could not hear. “Does someone fancy Lily Evans?”
“What?” James said, snapping out of his reverie. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve been looking at her for at least fifteen minutes.”
“I have not. I’ve been thinking of an answer to the homework.”
“And what have you come up with?”
“That I don’t know the answer.”
Sirius shook his head and muttered something under his breath that sounded oddly like “pathetic.”
“Wait,” Remus said suddenly. “I got the answer!”
“For number five?”
“Yes.”
“Well, what is it?”
“There is no bloody answer!”
“What?”
“She’s asking us about something in the year 1991. That year hasn’t happened yet!”
“Are you serious?” Sirius snatched up his question sheet and his eyes raced across the page until they located question five. He saw that Remus was right; Professor McGonagall had distinctly written 1991. “What date does she mean?”
“I have no idea.”
“You know she’s going to expect us to know what date she actually meant,” Peter said as he wrote down his answer to number six.
“But she wrote the date down wrong,” Sirius argued stubbornly. It was one less question that he had to do and he wanted to keep it that way. “It’s her fault if we don’t put something down.” He crossed out question five completely and moved on to his next unanswered question. “How much homework do you have left, Remus?”
Remus, who had done none of his homework over the weekend due to the full moon, was up to his ears in assignments. He had only managed to complete his Charms essay for Professor Flitwick. He had to make up his Defence Against the Dark Arts essay for Professor Jones, but he had until Thursday to do that. He had to finish the Transfiguration assignment, and write an essay on the properties of two ingredients in a Swelling Solution. Aside from the essay Professor Flitwick had given them, he also instructed them to practise the Locomotion Charm.
“Too much,” he muttered, scanning his Transfiguration work, hoping he had hit every point he needed to before going on to his Potions essay.
“You can copy some of ours,” Peter offered, pushing his Potions essay across the table.
“Thanks, but I’ve got it.”
It had only been one day since they found out the entire story behind Remus’s Lycanthropy and they were trying to go on as though it didn’t change their friendship. As it had only been one day, no change, or lack thereof, was evident. The only sign that whatever rift had occurred between the four boys had ended was that they were, once again, inseparable. Where they had once sat next to each other in class, they now sat together, talking happily while they did their assignments. They ate their meals together again. They were a unit once more.
The Potions classroom was silent except for the bubbling of the potions as they stewed. The Gryffindor and Slytherin second years had stepped away to wash their hands and put away their ingredients. They had been working on a potion that would change the smell of anything you placed into it. Professor Slughorn explained that the reason this potion was so popular was because you could make something that initially smelled rotten smell as nice as a rose. This remark received a number of snickers from James and Sirius, who were both looking pointedly at the back of Severus Snape. Lily Evans glared at them, but, surprisingly, did not tell them off.
The boys were conversing cheerfully, though there was a mischievous streak that went undetected. There was a strange glint in each of their eyes, but there was nothing around to suggest that they were plotting anything. James was showing Sirius a piece of parchment he had written on, the both of them laughing quietly. Remus was waving his wand idly, listening as Peter rattled off the ingredients in the potion they were concocting, trying to remember if he had used them all. As Peter finished his list (stating, very clearly, that he had used daisy roots) a sizzling sound started issuing from one of the cauldrons. Unfortunately, it was not coming from the correct cauldron.
Abrac Zabini’s potion was the intended target. It was supposed to crackle until lavender flames came out and spelled the phrase “I love you, Severus Snape” in a set of red and pink roses. Instead, Zabini’s potion remained the useless pile of liquid that it was, and it was Remus’s potion that was sizzling. James and Sirius saw this instantly and, wanting to spare Remus from the humiliation, tossed the parchment James had been holding inside the cauldron. Professor Slughorn had his back turned, searching the first row of cauldrons, and did not notice James’s action. Remus’s potion began bubbling madly and everyone knew what was to follow.
“Get back,” James warned, stepping as far away as he could from the cauldron. The class followed his lead and ducked just as Remus’s potion blew sky high. Fortunately, the potion had been so poorly made that it had no affect whatsoever on anything. Professor Slughorn clicked his tongue, shaking his head sadly, and gestured for Remus to follow him. Remus frowned apologetically to his friends and trailed slowly behind the Potions Master.
“We hexed the wrong cauldron?” Sirius hissed in James’s ear. “How did we manage that?”
“I sneezed when I was pointing my wand,” James confessed, a smile creeping on his lips. If Remus wasn’t in trouble, they would be able to find some humour in this. The bell gonged above and the boys filed into the hallway with the rest of the class and waited just outside the doorway.
Remus exited the classroom moments later, staring determinedly at the ground.
“What happened, mate?” Sirius asked.
“First, Slughorn told me to tell you two,” he pointed at James and Sirius, “that he expects to see you at his office tonight for one of his little dinners. And he knows you don’t have Quidditch, James.” Sirius and James groaned angrily; they loathed Slughorn’s parties. “Second… Slughorn is making me get a tutor. I managed to talk him out of getting Snape (“Like he’d actually do it,” James muttered) so he’s going to ask Lily for me.”
“Really?” James asked in what he hoped was a casual voice.
“Yes, since I wouldn’t let Snape anywhere near me.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared down the corridor. “How did we mess that up, anyway? It was supposed to be easy.”
“Blame James,” Peter said, jerking a thumb at the untidy haired boy.
“Thank you, Peter. I didn’t mean to ruin it.”
“Forget it,” Remus said, cutting quickly across Peter’s ready retort. “We fixed it before we did any real damage. I feel bad for you two though.” He turned to Sirius and James. “Locked up in a room, having dinner with Snape tonight.”
James and Sirius groaned, their faces falling into grimaces. In their opinion there was no worse a fate than having to witness Severus Snape eat.
“I’d say Remus and I are the lucky ones,” Peter laughed, grinning at the pitiable expressions his friends were wearing.
“Shut up,” Sirius moaned. “Do you know anyone else who’s going?” Sirius asked Remus.
“Probably Lily. Slughorn loves her.”
“Brilliant,” James said, his voice rising. “Another person who hates me. Hey!” He turned wildly around, facing each of his friends in turn. “Can one of you hex me so I don’t have to go?”
“As much as I would love to hex you, no. Who’s going to get me out of going, then?”
“Sorry, James, no.”
“Remus, hex Sirius and me!”
“I’m not getting detention.”
“You won’t get detention. Come on, be a man!”
“Why don’t you be a man, Sirius, and suffer through it.”
They fell into silence and trekked on to Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Jones was waiting at his desk for his students to arrive, and smiled cheerfully when they entered. He slid off the desktop and waved his wand in the air so that all of their essays flew into the air and into his hands.
“I will have these back to you by your next lessons,” he said as he placed the stack in his briefcase. He grouped the class into several groups and assigned them a magical creature to research and answer questions on before the bell rang. James, who was working with Xenophilius Lovegood and Mary Porter, hissed in Remus’s ear as he passed “too bad you’re not doing werewolves.” Remus laughed nervously, glancing at his group mates “ Lily and Jensen Patil. Luckily, they seemed to have not heard a word James had said.
Later that night James and Sirius bid Remus and Peter a very dramatic farewell as they made their way to the dungeons for Slughorn’s dinner party. Their efforts to skive off the whole affair had been proven fruitless (largely due to Remus and Peter refusing to hex them). They were going to use the excuse that they had far too much homework and couldn’t afford to waste a second. Unfortunately they had been given very little homework, and they were almost positive that Slughorn knew this. Their final option had been to just run, but they knew the Snape would never let them forget it. So, in grudging resignation, they found themselves stomping down the stone steps leading into the dungeons.
They could hear voices talking cheerfully from somewhere up the corridor and glanced at each other: It was their last chance to run. Remus and Peter were probably already in the Great Hall having their dinner; they could use some more company. Everyone in Slughorn’s room probably wouldn’t notice their absence. Except Slughorn, that is. But when did they ever care about what their professors wanted? They spun around on their heels and made to run, when a voice stopped them.
“Ah, boys!” Slughorn had stuck his head out the doorway, clearly hearing their approaching footsteps. “I thought I heard someone out here. Come in, come in! We’re all just enjoying some pheasant.”
James and Sirius both gagged at the thought; they had so far avoided having to eat Slughorn’s food. This time, however, they were exceedingly hungry. Reluctantly they followed Slughorn into his office, which was full of a select group of students. They instantly spotted Lily Evans’s red hair seated next to Snape’s greasy black hair. They were in conversation about something the boys couldn’t hear. Sirius’s eyes fell on Regulus, who was eyeing a bit of pheasant distastefully. Regulus felt someone’s eyes on him and looked up, but quickly dropped his gaze when he saw that it was his brother. Amongst the group were a Ravenclaw they did not know, two Hufflepuffs they recognised only by face, and themselves.
“Eat, boys, you must be famished!”
Bracing themselves for whatever pheasant tasted like, Sirius and James took a piece and hastily shoved it into their mouths. James almost gagged on his, but Sirius appeared quite thoughtful, chewing slowly and looking up at a spot on the ceiling.
“Not too bad,” he mused, taking another piece.
James rolled his eyes and searched around for somewhere to sit. The only two vacant seats sat beside Lily and Snape. They didn’t really mind sitting next to Lily; it was just her dinner companion they had a problem with. However, they knew better than to cause a disruption in a teacher’s office, especially since they were only there at invitation.
“It wasn’t that difficult,” Lily was saying, poking her fork at a potato.
“You’re the best at Charms, of course you wouldn’t find it hard,” Snape countered thoughtfully.
James rolled his eyes at Sirius, relaying the thought: Is he flirting with her? Sirius shrugged and cut up more pheasant.
“The homework said “ oh, hullo Potter, Sirius,” Lily said when she noticed the newcomers.
“Hullo,” the boys said. “Snape,” they acknowledged, nodding at the Slytherin.
“Potter, Black.”
“Remus and Peter didn’t get an invitation?” Lily questioned.
“Remus has blown up too many potions,” James said, shaking his head.
“’N I don’ fink Slugern ‘ikes Pete,” Sirius added through a mouthful of pheasant.
Lily looked revolted at Sirius, so turned her attention away from him. “You’re all speaking again?”
“Yeah, Remus told us everything,” James said, though he did not say much more because he saw Snape’s interest increase.
“That’s good. Is he feeling better?” James nodded.
Lily smiled and she turned back to Snape. James, bored already and not exactly willing to eat any of Slughorn’s food, got up and wandered around the office. Slughorn was conversing cheerfully with the Ravenclaw, who looked rather unnerved. James frowned sympathetically at the boy; Slughorn forced his presence on unwilling students far too often. The Hufflepuffs were talking quietly, laughing at their private jokes. The only other person, besides himself and Sirius, who was sitting alone was Regulus. James found this strange; the last time they had checked, Regulus was friendly with Snape. He must not have been enjoying the company his friend was keeping.
James was tempted to sit down beside the youngest Black, but the thought of Sirius’s horrified face prevented him from doing so. In fact, Sirius was at his side almost the moment after James thought of sitting. Sirius was looking rather green around the gills and was clutching his stomach.
“I don’t think that pheasant agreed with me,” he moaned.
“Hey, there’s our excuse for never coming back. You get sick from his food.”
“You mean that’s my excuse for never coming back. You’re not the one about to barf his brains out.”
“If you’re going to be sick, do it over there.”
Sirius gazed at the direction of James’s pointing finger and was almost persuaded to take him up on that, but the storm in his stomach had somewhat subsided. Instead, his eyes scoured the room and came to rest on Regulus.
“Hullo, little brother,” he said, dropping into the chair beside him.
Regulus jerked his head up and stared at Sirius in annoyance. “What do you want?”
“Just wanted to see how my brother’s doing.”
“I’m doing fine.”
“Just fine?”
“Yes?”
“Not brilliant?”
“No.”
“Not spectacular?”
“No.”
“Not so amazingly, wonderfully, spectacularly-”
“Shut up, Sirius!” Regulus jumped up from his seat and stormed across the room to sit with Snape.
Sirius leapt up from the chair and grinned at James. “I feel better now.”
“You’re mental.” James glanced at his watch and saw, with dread, that they had only been in the room for ten minutes. They were certain that Slughorn would not let them escape for another fifty at the very least. They didn’t understand why the Potions Master insisted on putting them through this agony, though he probably found it quite enjoyable. It was not long before they were hailed by Professor Slughorn himself and forced to listen to him talk about his various connections in all aspects in the Wizarding World. They honestly did not care about who Slughorn knew in the Ministry, or who sent him the finest crystallized pineapple.
James and Sirius did the best they could to not look too pained and bored. They resorted to the old standby of smiling and nodding. Their only stroke of luck was that Professor Slughorn did not seem to notice that they were tuning his every word out, only catching the key phrases. He talked for such a long time that James and Sirius almost did not hear when the questions were turned on them. So, rubbing their necks, which ached from their excessive nodding, they gave the man some halfhearted answers and prayed that he would leave them alone. After fifteen minutes Professor Slughorn became caught up in a conversation with Lily Evans and Snape, leaving the boys to their own business.
“Oh, you witty girl,” Slughorn chuckled, patting his rotund stomach. “You would have done well in my house.”
James and Sirius looked at each other in shock; they could not imagine Lily ever going into Slytherin. She was rather skilled at holding grudges, but she was not the slime they saw in that house. She would never become a Dark witch. They saw Lily’s face turn a shade of light red and smile pleasantly at him.
“That’s what I said,” Snape muttered just loud enough for the boys to hear.
“Of course that’s what you said,” James snarled.
Slughorn looked over his shoulder at James. “Did you say something, m’boy?”
“No, sir.” James peered at his watch once more and saw that they had only been there a half hour. It wasn’t as good as fifty minutes, but it was better than nothing. They wouldn’t be missed. He gestured for Sirius to follow him. They slipped out the door and, when they were sure Slughorn was not about to follow them out, did a mad dash for the exit out of the dungeons.
“Merlin! Why didn’t we make Remus hex us so we didn’t have to sit through that?” James shouted when they emerged into the Entrance Hall.
“I don’t know,” Sirius said, panting. “That was murder. That was almost worse than sitting through one of my parents’ stupid parties.”
“Come on, Remus and Peter are probably back in the common room.”
They began making their way up to Gryffindor Tower, devising numerous ways in which they could avoid going to anymore of Slughorn’s little gatherings. Their top contender was having a baby Mandrake cry in their ears and knock them out for a few hours. Unconsciousness was preferable to sitting in that office. As they were rounding the corner into the hallway of the portrait of the Fat Lady, they saw Professor McGonagall walking by with a student at her heels. On closer inspection, they saw that it was Alice Gordon. Curiosity gripped them instantly and they listened carefully to the conversation the two were having.
“… will be heading home for a few days, until you’re ready to come back,” McGonagall was saying in a voice very unlike the one she usually had. This voice was soft and gentle, as opposed to her brisk voice. They couldn’t hear Alice, so they assumed she hadn’t responded, or maybe she had just nodded. What had happened? “Come with me to the Headmaster’s office. I am so sorry, Alice.”
James and Sirius backed up into the shadows as the Transfiguration professor and fellow Gryffindor passed by. When they were sure the path was clear, they headed to the common room, hoping someone inside would have some answers for them. When they gave the Fat Lady the password (“Flobberworm!”) they were met with a sullen and miserable common room. No one looked up when James and Sirius entered; they were too immersed in their own thoughts. The boys spotted Remus and Peter sitting by the window with Frank Longbottom. They were not talking, simply staring out at the darkened sky. Remus was paler than usual, his fading bruised eye standing out on his whitened skin. Peter’s eyes were full of disbelief as his stare alternated between the window and the floor. Frank was gazing miserably out at the starry night.
“What happened?” James whispered, sitting down beside Remus.
Remus, Peter and Frank said nothing; they were still trying to figure out what had happened.
“Guys?” Sirius said slowly. “What’s going on?”
“Alice’s dad was found dead tonight,” Remus replied quietly, not looking up at Sirius.
“What?” James and Sirius’s mouths had dropped open.
“Her mother had gone out for the day and when she came home she found him dead in the living room,” Frank explained listlessly, not breaking his watch into the night.
“Poor Alice,” James murmured in disbelief.
“She’s going home to be with her mum,” Peter said. “We don’t know if she’s going to come back until after Christmas.”
Remus was fishing for something in his robe pocket and, when he pulled it out, they saw it was a copy of the Evening Prophet. On the front page was a picture of the mark in the sky they had seen when Professor Flitwick’s sister was killed. “There was a struggle… and this mark was in the air.”