The Marauders are some of the most loyal friends you could meet. Not necessarily to me, but to each other. Even though they spend half their time mocking one another, they still never hesitate to help each other out if it’s needed. Like when that Snape guy was starting to pick a fight with Remus and the other three weren’t even nearby, but somehow they just seemed to know what was happening, dropped everything and were by his side to help out if a duel started. And the way, in turn for that sort of thing, Remus always checks over their homework (James and Sirius may be brilliant, but they can’t always write things down perfectly and tend to rush it so they can have more time for what they really want to be doing, which is often hilarious and always illegal). I can’t imagine one of them ever doing anything to betray the others ... they all trust each other too much. They’d do anything for each other. Probably more than most people realise. Even I, their main observer, didn’t realise the true fierceness of their loyalty until they accepted me as a friend.
Chapter Twelve: Asparagus
[Marty]
For a moment, it as if all air has left the room. My lips are slightly parted and I am staring straight into Remus’s eyes, waiting for them to look away or crease with laughter and it all be a big joke. I close my mouth and swallow. I still can’t look away. It’s as if I can’t process anything that’s happening. It can’t be real ... it can’t be true. He’s my friend. Things like that don’t happen to people I know. They happen to other people.
Except ... they don’t. Look at my Mum. That didn’t happen to other people ... that happened to me.
As my Mum crosses my mind, I remember something she once said to me. She said that we should never, under any circumstances, think badly of someone because of something outside their control.
Finally, the spell seems to be broken and Remus turns away; but he’s not laughing. And I didn’t really expect him to be. You don’t joke about something like that.
“I understand, of course,” he mutters, his hand reaching round the back of his neck. “I wouldn’t expect you to want to stay friends. Not many would, not knowing what I am. It’s been nice knowing you of course, but ... well ... can’t really expect ...”
I clear my throat and say in what I hope is a cheery and positive voice, “What are you talking about? Why would I not be friends with you? Hey, I know “ why don’t I start a new campaign? I could raise werewolf awareness. You could be our spokesperson!”
He stares back at me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone more surprised looking. I smile at him widely. All right, I don’t really feel all that cheerful. At all. He’s my friend. I want to throw my arms around him and burst into tears, it hurts so much knowing what has happened to him. The cheerfulness is a complete act. I don’t want to think about him going through that every month. But he certainly doesn’t need me making an issue about it either.
“Are you serious?” he asks. He looks as if he’s trying not to be too hopeful.
“Of course,” I chirp, though I’m still fighting down my emotions. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
To be honest, if he hadn’t have seemed so worried about it, I don’t think it would have occurred to me that I should stop being friends with him over this. I’m just devastated that he’s been cursed so horribly; when he’s such a nice guy, too. No one as nice and friendly as him deserves something like that ... he’s just too ... too ... well, nice.
The bell rings. “Bugger,” he says.
“Bugger,” I agree. “I have to go to Transfiguration.”
“What do you mean, you have to go? So do I,” he says, turning to face the portrait hole.
“Aren’t you too tired?” I ask.
“I’ve felt worse. Come on!” He grabs my hand and we break into a run.
[Remus]
Marty’s reaction surprises me quite a bit. Okay, a whole bloody lot. I honestly hadn’t planned on telling her. I was going to confirm my friends’ assurances that I was in the Hospital Wing and say no more about it. But she was so angry and concerned and ... I don’t know. Clean. Fresh. Her eyes were so big and full of emotion that I just couldn’t help but tell her the truth. Even though I was so sure she would recoil away, or worse, suddenly go cold on me. But I couldn’t lie.
And I guess honesty pays off. Because I could tell she was shocked ... but she just sort of ... it was weird. She was just asking if she could start a campaign about me for The Cause, it didn’t seem to affect her at all ... I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d said, ”is that all?”
I wasn’t actually planning on going to Transfiguration, you know. But I was so relieved and knowing that she knew left me feeling so free. I didn’t feel so exhausted anymore. I just got this insane urge to spend time with her and what more fitting way than in class? We might even learn something ... even though we’re horribly late.
“McGonagall’s going to kill us!” Marty hisses, as we hover outside the closed doors to the classroom.
“No she won’t. Don’t worry, being a Marauder has its perks,” I assure her, then cough as loudly as I can. Marty grabs my arm.
“What are you doing?” she whispers urgently. I pull her to the side so that if someone opens the door and looks forward, they won’t see us ... as long as they don’t look to the left, of course.
But I needn’t have worried, because after waiting only a second, there is a large crash from inside and several people scream.
“What the “”
“Shush, come on.” I grab her wrist and open the door a fraction. Inside, I see that the chandelier behind McGonagall’s desk has fallen and several people are crowding around it, coughing at the dust. I open the door a fraction more and slip in, pulling Marty with me. Bent over “ as if that will somehow make us invisible “ we hurry across to the empty desks near the rest of the Marauders, who have mercifully sat at the back.
“Hey, Moony,” James says casually. “Hey, Marty.”
“Thanks, guys,” I say, putting my bag on the desk and taking out my things as fast as I can, while McGonagall tries to get the girls at the front to go and sit back down so she can levitate the chandelier back up without risking hitting any of them. Marty looks shocked.
“Did you guys do that?” she asks. Sirius looks at her like she’s insane.
“Well, yes.”
Her shocked face turns into a grin. “That’s brilliant! And the coughing, that was a signal we were outside?”
“Yes ...” Peter says slowly, as if she’s dense. “I’d have thought you would already have known about the Late Drill. We’ve done it often enough.”
She shakes her head. “I guess I never made the connection. You guys are good.”
She sits down next to me and takes out her own things, including her notebook, which she immediately starts scribbling in. Even though it’s still weird when she does this, even I’ve managed to get used to it and it was me who hated it so much in the first place. Actually, I kind of find it quite funny now. All that’s left is for me to get used to that weird thing she has against pumpkin juice (although we can’t ask for miracles).
Eventually, McGonagall somehow manages to restore normality, meaning that the girls at the front finally accept that they aren’t all going to die and sit back down.
Lily turns around in her seat in front of us. “Nice one,” she says.
“Why thank you,” James replies, pleasantly surprised. I think he missed the sarcasm in her voice somehow. She just smiles ... only in an I-don’t-actually-mean-this-smile-I-was-being-sarcastic-you-dolt kind of way. Although James misses that part too. Hey probably thinks it’s a smile which is beaming down her omni-benevolent love on his well-deserving face. Or at least, that’s what he probably thinks.
“Right,” McGonagall says, looking a little flustered, but the chandelier is repaired and attached to the ceiling. “Do any of you happen to know how that happened?”
“You know,” James says loudly. “The same thing happened in Arithmancy the other day. And Defence Against the Dark Arts. Maybe Peeves has figured out how to become invisible.”
Lily turns around in her seat again, looking incredulous, but she doesn’t say anything.
“Oh! Yes, Professor, it’s true,” Mary MacDonald says. “I was there!”
Well. No need to ask why she said that. Especially when she glances over at James and smiles in what she obviously thinks is a completely irresistible fashion.
McGonagall looks unsure, but she probably doesn’t want to waste any more time. “All right then. Now, I want you all to get into pairs while I hand out the asparagus ...”
I look over at Marty. She is about to say something to Lily, probably thinking I will go with Peter, but I stop her.
“I’ll go with you,” I say. She looks surprised, but smiles and nods.
“Hey!” Peter protests. “Who will I go with?”
James looks over at him. He has that look in his eyes that he gets when he thinks he has a really good idea. Which means it’s a very, very bad idea.
“You go with Padfoot, Wormtail. Hey, Lily! Lily! Wanna go with the best Transfiguration student in the room?”
She turns around. “Oh, is Remus free then?” she asks, smirking. James barely bats an eyelid.
“Not today, my love. You can come with me though. How about it? Asparagus won’t be the same without you.”
She looks “ amazingly “ like she might actually be considering it, no matter how reluctantly.
“If you promise not to be an idiot,” she says carefully.
James looks offended. “I’m never an idiot.”
“Okay, then if you promise not to be a totally and completely insufferable prat.”
“Yeah, sure. It’s a deal.”
He stands up and sits on the desk in front of him, then swings his legs over and hops off the other side so that he can take the seat next to Lily.
“Suave,” she comments dryly.
“You can count on it,” he replies. Even she cannot help but smiling a little.
“So,” I say breezily to Marty. “Asparagus, eh? What do you think we’re supposed “”
“So that’s why there were all those books on lycanthropy in your house?” Marty asks suddenly.
“Um. Yes.” Damn. I thought I had hidden those quite well. I guess some things you just can’t keep from her.
“Since when? I mean ... how old were you?”
Okay, this is uncomfortable. “I was just a kid. Not very old at all. I don’t really remember it.”
“How old?” she repeats fiercely. I swallow.
“Four.”
She goes pale. Maybe she isn’t as okay with it as I thought.
“Really,” I assure her. “It was a long time ago.”
“So yesterday, in the forest ... that was you? What if you’d hurt someone?”
I sigh and lean back in my seat, while James and Lily bicker about who should be the first to try the spell. I imagine James is having the time of his life. “I wouldn’t have hurt anyone, Marty. I worry that I might, but I know I wouldn’t. James, Sirius and Peter wouldn’t let me.”
There is a pause. “But what can they do? Surely they can’t get too close?”
“No, you’re right. They can’t. They’re human beings. They would get eaten.”
She doesn’t seem to understand, but I want her to figure out for herself. “Well that’s what I’m saying,” she insists. “So how will you not hurt them?”
“They can’t get too close as humans,” I say meaningfully. “But the wolf has no problem with anything that isn’t human.”
“Which is too bad,” she says slowly. “Since they are.”
I sigh. Maybe I should have gone to bed, after all. “What else did you see last night? When you saw me?”
She shrugs. “There was a big dog and a deer with you, too.”
Uh oh. “Ssssh!” I put my finger to my lips. “Don’t let James hear you calling him a deer!”
“The deer was James?”
“No,” I say hurriedly, glancing over at him. He REALLY doesn’t like being called a deer. REALLY. “The stag was James.”
“A stag is just a male deer,” Marty points out. Which is true.
“You know what?” I say. “Let’s try and Transfigure this asparagus ...”
[Marty]
So, it seems that not only is Remus a werewolf (I don’t know how I managed to miss that little bit of information) but his friends became illegal Animagi to help him. Illegally. I always knew they were loyal ... but still. I didn’t think they would have done something illegally.
“So you’d be interested in my current Cause, then, wouldn’t you?” I ask Remus a little later in Transfiguration, when we have moved on from asparaguses to pineapples. He looks unsure.
“Isn’t it about some ... house in Hogsmeade ... or something?”
“Yes. Which the Ministry seems to want to destroy, despite its deep political heritage, what with it being the birth and death place of Eugene Cardrac.”
“Right. Yes. What does that have to do with me?”
Honestly. Sometimes I think that those four don’t even listen to me when I’m telling them about my campaigns. “Because he was one of the first supporters of werewolf rights ... ever.”
Remus looks up. “Really?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, really. He tried very hard to stop the prosecution of innocent victims, he was way ahead of his time in that thinking and a lot of people still haven’t caught up with him, even though it was in the mid nineteenth century. He was laughed out of the Wizengamot, but he still carried on trying to raise awareness for what he thought was right.”
Remus looks fascinated. “You never mentioned that,” he says.
“Of course I did. I told you he was a strong moral supporter of the rights of the oppressed underdogs of Wizarding Society.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make any sense, how was I supposed to know you were talking about werewolves?”
“And also goblins and centaurs and vampires and many other of the oppressed underdogs of Wizarding Society.”
“Vampires? Why do they deserve rights?”
I stare at him. That is exactly the kind of intolerance which has meant he himself has to hide what he really is for fear of being ... well, I don’t want to say lynched but ... well. Lynched.
“So, anyway,” I continue, deciding that that can be dealt with later. “Are you going to help me stop Cardrac House from being pulled down to be replaced by more shops? After all, the Ministry isn’t going to care about Cardrac’s heritage. He was just some crazy member of the Wizengamot who they decided had gone batty, when really he was trying to make the world a better place for those who had no power to change their own situation. We need to do something to stop it.”
Remus gulps. “Right. Uh. Yeah. Good plan. So, about these pineapples ...”
I smile. Now that I’ve been able to get used to the idea of Remus being a werewolf, it doesn’t really bother me much at all. I’m just happy they felt I could be trusted and that I can finally fill in the gaps. I mean, this pretty much explains everything, doesn’t it? So I stop quizzing poor Remus about it (after all, he is quite tired) and just have a good time with him instead. Even James and Lily seem to be enjoying themselves ... well, almost. So much so that later on in the Common Room, when I am sitting on my own in a corner (the Marauders are off exploring again), Lily comes over and sits with me, instead of Mary, Roxie and Phyll like she usually does.
“Hi, Marty,” she says. “Are you busy?”
I shake my head. “No, not really. Not at all.” Hastily, I shove my notes for The Book out of the way; after all, I have a lot to update, but I can’t risk anyone finding out about Remus. What kind of way would that be to repay his trust?
“So ...” she looks uncomfortable. “You’re friends with the Marauders now, right?”
I nod. “Sure. They’re good guys, Lily. You know that.”
She looks unsure. “But ... after what they did to Sev all those times ... I mean, Severus.”
Ah, of course. The true reason Lily has never fully trusted them. Her friendship “ or former friendship “ with that Snape guy.
“But, come on, Lily. See it from their point of view.” After all, I know they can bully him and believe me I don’t approve, but he’s hardly an innocent victim.
“They’re too egotistical to understand that just because people don’t worship them, it doesn’t make those people evil scum?”
“Uh. Not quite. More like ... more like they see things as very black and white and not much is really grey to them. You know. That Snape guy “ I mean, Severus “ kind of falls into the grey area, doesn’t he? And the Marauders can choose whether to see him as good or bad. So they see him as bad. Things are simpler for them that way.”
Lily looks like she understands, even if she’s not very happy with it. “So what am I? Good or bad?”
I smile. “Do you have to ask?”
“Even though I’m friends with “ or used to be, anyway “ the greyest of the grey?”
“Believe me,” I say. “James never saw you as a bad person for that.”
“We weren’t talking about James, we were talking about all four of them,” she points out. I raise my eyebrows.
“With you, Lily, it’s the same thing.”
She smiles. She can’t help it. I feel a rush of warmth for Lily Evans and I hope that this won’t be the last time she comes to sit with me. I’m grateful that I managed to make friends with the Marauders, I really am, but you can never have too many friends, right? Especially if you didn’t have any at all for a long time.
“So where are they now, those simple beings?” she asks, much more casually (which can only mean she has accepted my explanation).
I shrug. “Exploring. They do that sometimes. They’re trying to make a map of Hogwarts.”
“Don’t you want to help?”
I shake my head. “I have my own projects to be getting on with. Have you ever heard of Eugene Cardrac?”
It is Lily’s turn to shake her head. “No. What about him?”
I grin. Marty Price, you are becoming a master of making friends. If you carry on this way, you might just be Minister of Magic.
Merlin’s beard. What a good idea!
[Remus]
We come back from our highly unsuccessful explorations to find Snape waiting outside our Common Room. None of us are feeling particularly friendly, what with the utter waste of time our exploring was tonight, since it mostly involved hiding from Filch and Mrs Norris in a very small and very uncomfortable broom cupboard for two hours straight.
“Look what the Thestral dragged in,” says Sirius, under his breath.
“What are you doing here, Snivellus?” James asks. I’ll admit, he sounds forceful, but not sneering. More ... authoritative. Like a headmaster who caught a student out of bounds. Only not Dumbledore, who would probably just pretend he had gone temporarily blind and then make vaguely encouraging statements about curiosity and daring being the most important lessons of all, before wandering mysteriously away and leaving you to your trespassing. No, James sounds more like Professor McGonagall, if she were headmaster. I mean, mistress.
“Never you mind,” replies Snape. Ah, now there’s the sneering I was waiting for.
“Are you waiting for Lily?” Peter asks. James looks over at him and back at Snape. Snape says nothing.
“Well?” James barks. I sigh. Big fight, here we come. And all I really want to do is sit by the fire and finish off my Charms essay. And possibly try and get rid of the cramps in my muscles being squashed in between Sirius and Peter in that broom cupboard caused.
“I’m not,” Snape says. “I was just passing.”
“What, with a bunch of flowers just randomly, Snivelly? Why is that so hard to believe?” Sirius asks, stepping forwards. He actually makes a rather good point.
Snape reaches for his wand. We’re quicker.
Using the Levicorpus spell, James suspends Snape in the air with worrying speed. Anyone would think he’d been practising (and what’s more, they would be right, if our wake up calls for the last few weeks are any testament. One day, it would be nice to wake up because of a cockerel crowing or birds singing, but no. We get woken up by our deranged friend hanging us from the ceiling).
“Let’s get one thing straight,” James says. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the portrait hole opening, but I ignore it. “Lily ... Evans ... is ... out ... of ... bounds!” he growls, jabbing Snape in the chest with each word.
“And why are you the judge of that, Potter?” Lily asks, striding up to him. “Who made you my keeper?”
James goes pale. And “ as I look past them and see Marty standing there, watching us threaten Snape with a horribly disappointed look on her face “ so do I.
Bloody hell. Not again.
AN: Heh heh. Oops. Well, this should be good, shouldn’t it? Please leave a review ... I look forward to hearing what you think!