The Descent Begins
“Honestly… I think James is the most mental of all the Quidditch captains.”
“I dunno… Cory Hamilton was pretty bad.”
“Not as bad as James.” Sirius led the way over to the nearest window and jerked his hand towards it. The windows were frosted over from the subzero temperatures outside and almost impossible to see out of. Remus and Peter looked out, their breath further fogging the glass, and saw the grounds blanketed in the mid-February snow. In the distance, there were seven tiny blurs darting about the air. “Hamilton never made them practise in four feet of snow!”
“It’s also negative three degrees,” Peter added absentmindedly, turning away from the window.
Remus raised an eyebrow at him. Folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the cold stone wall, he queried, “How do you know that?”
Peter shrugged. “I don’t… I’m just saying it’s really cold.”
The three boys moved away from the window and closer to the warm torches hanging on the stone walls. James had indeed been captured by the lethal fever that was Quidditch. It happened to every Quidditch captain, but James had held out for a long time. The only time he was obsessive over it was when he was forming his new team. Once tryouts ended, he seemed fairly normal. Not any longer. James had his team practising constantly; he wanted to beat Slytherin in the next match and beat them badly. This coming match would decide who was facing Ravenclaw in the finals. But the game wasn’t until the end of March! As the three wandered down the second floor corridor, they suddenly found themselves walking towards a familiar and much loathed Slytherin.
“Snape,” the three said simultaneously, though Sirius’s scathing tone was the most noticeable of the three.
“Black, Lupin, Pettigrew,” Snape responded, eyeing them coldly. Bracing themselves for whatever Snape wanted and ready to return it if it was foul, the boys were quite surprised when the Slytherin continued on his way. They did, however, notice that his eyes were following something that was behind them. Slowly revolving on the spot, the three were met with the sight of Professor Finely. Their hearts automatically sank. Professor Finely had been particularly cruel lately, desecrating any student who bothered him even the slightest bit. What did he want with them?
“Hullo, Professor,” Peter chanced. It was best to let Peter handle the speaking, as Professor Finely did not despise Peter, something they had never been able to figure out. They didn’t mind this, though. Most professors were harsh with Peter; it was good to have at least one who didn’t speak badly to him every day. They wished it was another professor other than this one, but they could do nothing about it.
Professor Finely offered Peter what they supposed passed for a smile. His tone was brisk and official. “Peter, I’ve come to speak with you actually. Would you come with me to my office?”
Sirius had half a mind to yell for Peter not to do it, that he would never come back alive, but he bit his tongue. It was not the best of ideas, at least not in front of the professor. Not having any reason to decline, Peter followed Professor Finely as he led the way towards his office, not looking back at his friends.
Brow furrowed, Sirius turned to Remus. “What was that about?”
Remus shrugged. In truth, he was extremely grateful that Finely only wanted to talk to Peter and not him. He was in no mood to hear about how he would be murdered in his sleep if he didn’t join the Dark Lord like all the other good werewolves. He was also in no mood to hear Sirius complain that Remus should have told Dumbledore about all of this by now. “Dunno.” He began in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. “I’ve got homework.”
Sirius folded his arms across his chest and watched as Remus quickened his pace down the corridor. Sirius knew what his friend was thinking and why he was leaving so swiftly. If Remus stayed there any longer, Sirius would have started pestering him about the whole Finely situation. Sirius didn’t think he was pestering his friend at all; he was only concerned for his safety. Luckily, Finely would do nothing bad to Peter. He wasn’t sure why the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor had taken a liking to the boy, but he had and it kept Peter safe.
Now if only all of his friends were safe.
“Moony, could I talk to your for a second.”
“Sure, Wormtail. Oh, what did Finely want, anyway?”
“That’s… that’s what I needed to talk to you about.”
Peter had sought out Remus first in the common room, having heard from Sirius that Remus had gone to do homework, but he wasn’t there. So Peter ventured up the stairs and into the sixth year dormitory and found his friend sitting on his bed, organising some photos in his album, his homework lying forgotten beside him. Frank had just gone down to dinner, greeting Peter as he went out, and now the room was otherwise deserted. Peter was standing in the doorway, looking distinctly uncomfortable, as if he didn’t want to enter the conversation he was about to enter. Remus saw this and frowned concernedly. What was making Peter sway from left to right like that?
“What’s up, Pete?”
Peter continued shifting his weight from foot to foot, unable to meet Remus’s eyes. He didn’t want to answer this question, but he had no choice. The professor had asked him to talk to Remus about this. “Finely… he wanted me to ask you if you’ve… if you’ve considered his offer.”
Remus’s eyes widened. He could hardly believe that had come out of Peter’s mouth. When was this going to end? Finely had to give up, he had to give up eventually. Remus thought he would have to! He couldn’t carry this on for much longer. But Finely wasn’t giving up and now he had brought it closer to Remus than he ever had. Professor Finely had gone so far as to ask one of Remus’s best friends to force him into this. Remus could see that Peter didn’t seem to know what Finely’s offer was. This relieved him, though only a little. “D-did he tell you what he meant by that?” Remus asked tentatively.
Peter shook his head. It had bothered him that he did not know this information, yet was asked to speak to his friend about it. “He wouldn’t say.”
Remus let out a breath slowly, staring down at his photo album. He knew what was coming next. Peter was going to ask what Finely was talking about. Remus couldn’t say this surprised him; he would do the same thing if he were in Peter’s position.
And Peter did just that. “Remus… what was Finely talking about?”
Remus shook his head dismissively and threw his legs over the edge of his bed, gathering up his photo album and stacks of photos. There was no reason to worry Peter. “Nothing important, Wormtail. Really, don’t worry about it.”
“But he made it seem like it was important.”
“It’s not. Trust me.”
Had it been James or Sirius, they would have pressed the matter, refusing to listen to Remus’s insistence that they needn’t worry. They would have asked and asked until Remus caved in just to make them stop. Peter, however, made no further mention of it. Remus asked if his friend was going down to dinner and, when Peter declined, Remus shrugged and hurried down into the common room. Peter waited until Remus had completely shut the dormitory door before sitting down on his own bed, staring at the door with narrowed eyes.
Why wouldn’t Remus trust him with this information? Peter was sure Remus had told someone. Peter was sure Sirius knew; Sirius always knew what was going on with Remus before any of them did. That was the friendship those two had, hardly anything was off limits. James would know before he did, if he didn’t know already, Peter was certain of that. Peter knew James and Sirius were privy to whatever was going on and he, Peter, was left out in the dark. Why did this always happen? Those three seemed to trust each other more than they trusted him and he didn’t like it.
Peter didn’t like it at all.
“Remus, what’s up?”
Sirius had never seen Remus look so urgent in his entire life. Remus looked as if he would self-combust if he didn’t tell Sirius something right away. He literally dragged Sirius out of the Great Hall, away from his dinner, and into the vacant Entrance Hall. Remus looked around, eyes narrowing into every darkened corner to make sure that no one could be listening. When he was sure there were absolutely no stragglers in the Entrance Hall, he turned to Sirius. “He’s trying to get Peter to convince me!”
For a moment, Sirius had no idea what Remus was talking about. Who was trying to get Peter to convince Remus about what? Then he recalled Professor Finely asking to speak with Peter earlier. Sirius’s expression immediately became enraged. “What?” he asked heatedly and loudly.
Remus motioned for Sirius to lower his voice. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper. “You were right, Sirius. I should have told Dumbledore about this, ages ago.”
Had this been under any other circumstances, Sirius might have done a victory dance because Remus finally admitted he was wrong. But this was not the appropriate time for dancing. “So go to him now! You’ve got to tell Dumbledore! Remus, if Finely’s trying to get your friends to convince you to join that loony; you’ve got to do something about it!”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“You walk up to Dumbledore’s office and tell him, ‘Professor Dumbledore, sir, one of my professors is trying to persuade me to join Voldemort!’ Pretty easy, I think.”
“But Dumbledore hired this man and he trusts him!”
“Dumbledore’s made mistakes before.” Sirius knew that Remus would have no arguement for this. Professor Dumbledore had made mistakes when it came to who he hired for their Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers. First he hired Professor Crane, who had made it his life mission to torment all his students mercilessly. Then there was Professor Twikom, who wasn’t a bad woman, but spineless enough to allow her relative Fenrir Greyback to attack one of her students. Dumbledore had made mistakes. Dumbledore gave his trust where it shouldn’t have been given. Now was no different than the other instances.
Remus’s voice was even quieter when he next spoke. “I don’t even know where Dumbledore’s office is.”
“Go ask McGonagall, I’m sure she would tell you. If you explained to her what Finely’s trying to do, she would-”
“What am I trying to do, Mr. Black?”
The two boys froze at the cold voice of Professor Finely, who was standing right behind Remus. Sirius could see the bleak coldness in the man’s eyes and knew that he had at least heard the last bit of their conversation. “H-hullo, Professor,” Sirius greeted, trying his best to sound casual. Inside, however, Sirius’s blood boiled. This was exactly the type of person he had run away from over the summer. Now he was confronted with this kind of person again at Hogwarts, one of the only places he could escape to.
Professor Finely would not be distracted by simple pleasantries. “I asked you, Mr. Black, what am I trying to do?”
Sirius had half a mind to tell Professor Finely precisely what he was going to do, but Remus hissed in his ear to drop it. Sirius bit his bottom lip in frustration. Why was Remus so bloody insistent for him to forget about it? Well, Sirius wasn’t going to drop it. “You’re trying to force my friend into doing something that makes him uncomfortable,” Sirius said hotly.
The corners of Finely’s mouth turned up. “Is that so, Mr. Black?”
“Yes, it is.”
“I wasn’t aware it was any of your business what your friend does.”
“He’s my friend and I’m making it my business!”
“Sirius!” Finely and Sirius turned to Remus, who was looking more than angry. His eyes were sharp and glaring directly at the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. “Professor Finely, the answer is no!” He must have said it before, he knew he must have. Obviously the Professor did not understand this, so he was forced to say it again.
Professor Finely merely stared at Remus with very little surprise in his expression. He had known the Lupin boy would decline the offer, but it never hurt to push him until he succumbed. Clearly, however, the boy was too idiotic for words. “Fine, Lupin. It is your decision, foolish as it may be.”
Professor Finely studied the two boys for another brief moment before whipping around and stalking off towards the dungeons, his long black cloak billowing behind him. Remus and Sirius watched the professor disappear down the stone steps and were only broken out of their trance by James’s loud voice coming in from the outside.
“Sweet Merlin, it’s cold out there!” James was pink in the face and snow was dispersed liberally through his mass of black hair. James ruffled his hair, ridding it of the snowflakes. His eyes traveled from Remus and Sirius and the smile that had been on his face melted away. “What’s up?”
“Professor Finely,” Remus and Sirius spat simultaneously.
“What did he do now?” Every student they knew despised the man, but Remus and Sirius seemed to hate him the most out of everyone. There had to be a decent reason.
Sirius and Remus explained what Professor Finely was doing and, by the time they had finished, James was livid. A professor was trying to persuade one of his students to join Voldemort and was threatening his life if he didn’t? Where did Finely get off doing that? He had no right. James was seething. “Are you bloody serious?”
“He tried getting Wormtail to convince him!” Sirius raged.
James rounded on Remus. “Did he tell Peter anything about what he wanted you to do?”
“No and I don’t want Peter to know,” Remus insisted firmly. “He’ll worry too much.”
James folded his arms across his chest. “And what do you think the two of us will do?”
“I don’t know but you won’t worry like Peter will and I don’t want to do that to him.”
James’s jaw was set, but he made no further mention of the subject. He simply shook his head once and led the way to Gryffindor Tower without another word to either of his friends. Was there ever going to be a time when someone wasn’t trying to give them hell? Where did these people get off trying to persuade students into joining a group like that? The three walked in complete silence all the way up to the seventh floor and when they entered the Gryffindor common room, it was to see a disgruntled Peter sitting in one of the best armchairs in the room.
“What’s wrong, Wormtail?” Remus asked, sitting down in the armchair beside Peter’s and watching him concernedly.
Peter’s eyes darted towards Remus and back to the tabletop he was currently staring at. There was detectable anger within him, though he tried not to show it. “Nothing,” Peter mumbled tonelessly, slouching further in his seat.
“You look mad about something.”
Peter got up from his seat and made a beeline to the spiral staircase leading to the dormitories. “Well, I’m not. I’m going to bed, ‘night.”
The three watched as Peter shuffled up the steps, not giving one of them a second glance. When Peter was gone completely, Remus raised an eyebrow at James and Sirius. “What d’you think is wrong with him?”
Sirius shrugged dismissively, dropping onto the couch. “Who knows?”
“He looked upset.”
“Maybe he’s just mad at Finely,” James suggested. It made sense, he thought. Who would want to have a professor like that? But Peter never seemed to mind the man, sometimes it appeared that Peter liked the man, or at least he didn’t detest him as his classmates did.
Remus considered this for a moment. Peter didn’t appear to have been upset earlier when they spoke. Peter just looked confused. He didn’t know what Finely was talking about and Remus wouldn’t tell him either. It was only natural that he should be a bit bemused. Perhaps Peter was upset because he was confused. Whatever the reason was, the three boys were sure Peter would tell them his troubles eventually.
The full moon shone brightly on the grounds of Hogwarts, which were almost near invisible to the troupe of four animals who delved deeper and deeper into the Forbidden Forest. There was so much uncharted territory the stag, dog, rat and werewolf had not broken into yet. The Forbidden Forest was one of them and they were eager to explore as much of it as possible. Granted they had entered this area of the grounds in human form, when it was dangerous for them to do so. Now, as animals, they could come and go as they pleased, as long as the rat was not accidentally stepped on by a centaur or a unicorn.
Speaking of centaurs, the Animagi and the werewolf did not notice the group of centaurs watching them angrily from the shield of trees. This was their forest and these animals were running amok in it. They did not approve of such things, especially because the three animals were in the company of a werewolf. Despite the rumors, there had never been an actual werewolf in the Forbidden Forest and the centaurs intended for it to stay that way. The centaurs watched silently, ready to rid the forest of these intruders if necessary. Luckily, it appeared, the animals were making their way out. This was good, in the centaurs’ opinions. Better for them to harass the grounds of Hogwarts rather than the centaurs’ hallowed home. Should the animals ever enter again, they would not leave as easily.
The stag, dog, rat and werewolf ran through one of the clearings in the forest and stopped for a moment. Silently they were able to communicate where they wanted to go. Should they move farther through the trees or further explore the area they had already come through? They knew they would have to head back to the Shrieking Shack soon, as the three Animagi didn’t want to be around when their werewolf friend turned back into his human self. It was hard enough that they had heard him transform into a werewolf. Of course, the werewolf understood this entirely. If he was in their position, he wouldn’t want to bear witness to it either.
Besides, Madam Pomfrey needed to come and collect him. She would be suspicious if Remus was not in the shack waiting for him.
Still, they had at least another hour and a half before the moon set and the sun began to rise. Now, they were free to run to their hearts’ content - and this was exactly what they did. They chased each other about the clearing, growling and barking and squeaking happily. Nothing could stop them tonight; nothing could stop them from having their fun. There were no students or professors out on the grounds to distract the werewolf with their scent and no creatures of the Forbidden Forest were troubling them either. They had the night to themselves.
When it became evident that the sun was coming up soon, the group of animals trouped back to the Shrieking Shack. The stag, dog and rat transformed back into their human selves once they were completely out of reach of the Whomping Willow and shielded by James’s Invisibility Cloak. It would look unusual for three sixteen year old boys to be awake so early on a Sunday morning. They snuck across the grounds in complete silence and it was only when they reached the castle doors that Sirius inhaled sharply and pulled James and Peter back.
“What the bloody hell was that?” James hissed.
Sirius said nothing, but jerked his head towards the now open double doors. Sirius distinctly recognised one of the figures now crossing the grounds as his younger brother. Regulus was walking with someone else they recognised as Severus Snape. The two were talking in voices too quiet to hear, even in the silence of the grounds, but Sirius knew at once that he would not like what he was about to hear. He didn’t care though; he had to hear it anyway. Abandoning every safety measure they had, Sirius slid out from under the Invisibility Cloak, deaf to the warnings from James and Peter.
Sirius crept silently across the squishy morning grass, straining his ears to catch even the smallest of bits from this conversation Regulus and Snape were having. What would these two possibly be doing outside so early in the morning, anyhow? Especially Snape, he was a Prefect, after all. Snape also knew what the previous night was. How could he be so sure there wasn’t a werewolf still wandering about the grounds? Regulus and Snape stopped just shy of the shore of the lake and Sirius hung back a good few feet, listening intently.
“You have a true interest in what we’re doing?” Snape had asked Regulus, his voice a mixture of excitement and foreboding.
Regulus’s voice, on the other hand, sounded indignant. “Of course, Severus. Have you met me or my family?”
Snape scoffed. “I couldn’t judge your entire family.”
“Trust me; Sirius isn’t a member of my family any longer.”
As the back of Snape’s head was facing Sirius, Sirius could not see the facial expression he was wearing, but he imagined it was a broad smirk.
“I’m sure your parents were devastated when he ran away over the summer,” Snape said mockingly.
“Actually, my mother was upset about it.” Sirius registered the tone of utter surprise in Regulus’s voice. Of course Regulus would be shocked that his mother was upset that her eldest child had run away, but it was not for any good reasons that she was saddened. She was definitely not saddened because Sirius was gone and she could no longer see her son. She was upset because she and her husband had failed to convince one more person to follow their hideous ways of life.
Snape sneered. “She’s probably gotten over it by now. I can’t imagine anyone wanting that in their house every day.”
Regulus seemed to take comfort in Snape’s taunts towards his older brother. “Yeah… she’s gotten over it. Doesn’t care about him. Anyway, back to what we were talking about?”
“Right, yes. I’ve spoken to Lucius Malfoy about it and he said that he believes you would be very welcomed.”
Sirius had to keep the snarl rising in his throat down. Snape speaking with Lucius Malfoy only meant one thing. Sirius’s mind instantly whirled back to his third year. He could easily see the scene in his mind’s eye. He and Remus were heading to the Great Hall, intent on eating dinner, and he saw a twelve year old Regulus speaking with some of the Slytherins they had followed into the Forbidden Forest previously. In a rage, Sirius had followed those Slytherins into the forest and found out just what his younger brother was getting himself into.
Foolish as it was, Sirius never believed this would come to pass. Regulus was an idiot just like the rest of their family, but Sirius had always had some small amount of hope for him. Apparently that hope was shattered now.
“Good… that’s good. What do I do to find out more about this?”
“I’ll be in touch, or Lucius will be. It will probably be easier for you to speak with Lucius, as he is your cousin’s husband.”
“Brilliant, I’ll make sure to ask him about it the next time I see him.” Regulus pulled his cloak tighter around himself and gestured for Snape to turn. They were heading back to the castle.
Eyes widening, Sirius immediately ran. He was not afraid of his brother, but he had no words to express how he was feeling and felt he might resort to hexing the brains out of the both of them. He would never hear the end of it from his parents if he hexed Regulus, as he had no doubt that Regulus would go running to Mummy and Daddy, crying about how his terrible big brother had hurt him. If he hexed Snape, this was just one more reason for Snape to reveal some knowledge he had to the public. Concealed by a tree, Sirius watched through narrowed eyes as the two Slytherins walked up the grassy slope, speaking in what had to be excited tones. Sirius felt his stomach clench painfully.
Once the two were safely inside the castle, Sirius rejoined James and Peter.
“What was that about?” James asked curiously. “You look mad.”
Sirius’s eyes darted to James as he seriously considered whether or not he should tell James and Peter what the conversation had been about. In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to say exactly what had gone on. James and Peter would understand his meaning in just one sentence. “Regulus just ruined his life.”