Chapter 6 : Of snowball fights, death by soap bubbles and family obligations
Dear Mum,
I’m sorry I didn’t write sooner. It’s been at least two weeks since my last letter and I feel really bad about it. Actually I’ve been really busy lately, the classes are getting more and more interesting, and I found myself three friends. They are James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. We are always together, it’s great to be a group like that. I met them on the Hogwarts Express, but we became close friends only recently. James and Sirius are always planning something, they’ve already landed themselves in a lot of trouble, but they’re terribly funny and very clever. Peter is very nice, he’s always shy and quiet, very much unlike the other two. I don’t think they suspect anything about my condition, there have been three “special nights” since we first became friends and I told them I was visiting you because you were ill. I hope that’s okay with you, I didn’t think about asking for your permission, I’m sorry about it. Don’t worry about me, I’m really happy here, much more than I expected to be.
I miss you and Dad, I hope you’re both well and I’m looking forward to seeing you at Christmas.
With love,
Remus.
***
A ray of light crept between the curtains drawn around one of the beds in the first-years dormitory and fell upon its occupant’s face. Remus grunted and blindly groped for the curtains, which he firmly pulled closed again, blocking out the light. With a sigh of relief he rolled onto his back with every intention to fall asleep again.
Someone abruptly pulled open the curtains and the sunlight suddenly bathed Remus’ bed. With a moan he turned on his stomach and buried his face in his pillow.
“Come on, Remus, get up!” shouted (much too loudly) a voice belonging without any doubt to the someone who had awoken him so brutally.
Remus groaned.
“What’s the time?” he said, his voice muffled by the pillow.
“Eight o’clock. Hurry up, it snowed last night!” A hand grabbed Remus’ pillow, pulled it firmly out of his grasp and threw it on the floor. Remus sat up straight, rubbing his eyes, and weakly tried to protest:
“Eight o’clock? James… it’s the week-end!”
James, who was already fully clothed, gave him a look that plainly meant “And so what?”
“Come on, get up,” he repeated, “there’s at least a foot of snow on the ground. I’m gonna wake the others up.”
Remus sighed and got dressed; then he watched as James woke Peter up (by pushing him so that he fell from his mattress onto the floor), before moving to Sirius’ bed. Things started to get slightly complicated, as Sirius had obviously planned to stay in bed until noon and was violently opposed to James’ intrusion.
“Ouch! Gerroff, d’you know what time it is?”
“Yeah, it’s a quarter past eight, now get up.”
“A quarter past “ A QUARTER PAST EIGHT? It’s SATURDAY, you twit! I’m not getting up! Get off, I said! OH NO, DON’T YOU DARE, JAMES, DON’T “ ”
“Wingardium Leviosa!”
Sirius flew upward at once and cursed furiously as his head bumped into the ceiling.
“You’ll pay for that!” he snarled with a filthy look. “Third time this week you’re using this damn spell on me! My sleep is sacred, Potter, and you “”
“That’s right, so you’re not interested in a snowball fight, are you?”
“If you think you’re going to coax me into “ did you say a snowball fight? It snowed?”
“Well, yes, but I think Remus, Peter and I are going to let you sleep “ ”
“Oh, do shut up and let me down.”
After James had sent his friend crashing on the floor, the curtains of the last bed were pulled apart and a tousle-haired head appeared.
“You know, guys, it’s really tiring to share a dormitory with you,” said Anthony Bollurish wearily.
***
“STOP IT! I’M ALL WET!”
“Well that’s the risk of a snowball fight, Peter “ ”
“Why can’t we switch teams?” said Peter furiously, getting to his feet and brushing off the snow covering his hair and face. “You and James are always together, and your aim is much better than mine or Remus’. That’s unfair, if you ask me.”
“Sorry but you make such a lovely round target “”
“Well well well… First-years playing in the snow… Isn’t that positively cute?”
James froze as he aimed a snowball at Remus. The four boys turned around and found themselves facing a group of sneering Slytherins, gathered around Lucius Malfoy.
“My parents were right about Gryffindor,” drawled Narcissa Black, delicately smoothing her skirt. “When you land there, you have a strong tendency to regression.”
“Oh yeah?” said Sirius, his grey eyes darkening with anger. “Well that’s better than being a fifty-year-old hag stuck in a eleven-year-old girl’s body, if you ask me, Cissy.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” sighed Lucius Malfoy, resting a hand on Narcissa’s shoulder to prevent her from answering. “The way you’re choosing your friends will always surprise me, James. You’re behaving like a blood-traitor.”
James felt his cheeks grow hot. There was a sharp intake of breath from the Slytherins, who knew, as well as he did, that it was the most serious accusation for a pure-blood; they were all watching him, avidly waiting for his reaction. He slowly lowered the hand that still held the snowball and took a few steps toward Malfoy.
“Sorry to break your heart,” James hissed in a low voice. “Did you really think I was going to pick you as a friend? When I’m already ashamed we’re blood-relatives? I’d rather be called a Muggle-lover than run along slimy gits such as you.”
A stunned silence followed this statement. James knew he had uttered nothing less than a blasphemy for the pure-blood society, but he stood his ground, head held high, his hand instinctively clutching his wand in his pocket. Bellatrix Black was livid with indignation, and even Malfoy seemed to have lost his usual composure.
“Watch your mouth, Potter,” he murmured, his cold gaze fixed on James’ face. “You pathetic little brat… I don’t know how much longer I’m going to resist the temptation to make you swallow your pride “”
“Oh, I’d love to see you try,” sniggered Sirius, coming to James’ side and drawing his wand.
“What do you think you can do against us, Black?” said an oily, unpleasantly soft voice they hadn’t heard before. “You’re just a fool who knows no more than the pitiful spells he has been taught at school.”
Severus Snape had stepped forward, detaching himself from the bunch of Slytherins, and was smirking at Sirius and James. His stand was slightly different from the one he had had in the train: he was no longer bent and wary, but straight-backed and confident. He was playing nonchalantly with his wand, tapping it lightly in the palm of his left hand.
Sirius growled in rage and raised his wand, but Remus seized his wrist.
“Don’t let him provoke you, that’s what he’s expecting…”
“I don’t give a damn!”
“What are you saying, Lupin?” sneered Snape. “Fearing to land yourself into trouble again because of your idiotic friends?”
Remus slowly let go of Sirius’ wrist and his gaze hardened as he looked into the Slytherin’s face.
“As if all your friends weren’t going to hex us before he’s said half of the incantation,” he answered coolly. “You were talking about regression? Tell me, how grown-up are you, a group of about ten guys, mostly between third and seventh year, provoking four first-years?”
“Running to McGonagall, already?” whispered Snape, his smirk widening.
“Nobody’s running, Snape. Of course I wouldn’t mind if you were “ you’re quite ruining the beauty of the landscape, you know.” This time it was James who had spoken.
Snape’s eyes narrowed and his lip curled. He and James and Sirius had had several fights already. Snape resented James and Sirius’ brilliance in almost every subject, and James and Sirius hated Snape’s smug expression and sarcastic remarks, every time their own potion was not as good as their enemy’s. Snape had never forgiven them the spoiling of his Swelling Potion, and the two friends strongly suspected the liquid they had found in their pumpkin juice the following morning had been the Slytherin’s revenge. That potion had made them turn a nasty shade of electric blue “ without mentioning the unimportant fact they had spent the whole morning being sick over and over again in the bathroom. Since that day, they had not met in the corridors without exchanging insults, or even spells, landing themselves in detention several times.
“Running?” Snape repeated softly. “I don’t plan to run. Do you think I’m afraid of you, Potter? You’ll be surprised to hear it, but you’re not the only one who has the right to enjoy the grounds.”
“You’d better be afraid, you slimy “” started Sirius furiously.
“He’s right, Sirius,” said suddenly James, shaking his head.
Sirius’ mouth fell open.
“He has the right to enjoy the snow as much as we do,” James went on, while Snape was eyeing him suspiciously, but with a hint of satisfaction in his cold black eyes.
“But “”
“So let him enjoy the snow,” concluded James lightly. And the snowball which had been destined to Remus suddenly flew straight in Snape’s face.
Sirius roared with laughter and he and James started to make snowballs as fast as possible, showering the Slytherins with snow; Remus and Peter soon joined in the fight. The Slytherins tried to avoid the snowballs, cursing furiously; some of them pulled out their wands and began to fire hex after hex at the four Gryffindors.
The chaos was indescribable : James was aiming snowballs at the eyes and some of their opponents, blinded by snow, were jinxing fellow Slytherins. Soon James and Sirius pulled out their wands and alternately threw snowballs and curses at the Slytherins. Remus had feebly protested had first (“We’re not allowed magic between classes!”) but when he got nearly hit by a Furunculus spell he fell silent and pulled out his wand as well. Peter was making snowballs as fast as he could, and held them out to his friends so that they wouldn’t waste time bending and making them themselves.
The fight was turning quite nasty; the spells the Slytherins were using were getting more and more dangerous, and one of them hit Peter squarely in the face. He fell over and tried in vain to get up, struggling against the power that pinned him to the ground, his breathing getting irregular and difficult. Sirius earned himself a deep gash in the left shoulder, and Remus a serious burn on the cheek. The Slytherins themselves weren’t totally unharmed: two or three were covered in boils, Snape had received a mixture of spells that had reduced him to a shapeless mass, lying unconscious on the ground, and Narcissa Black had been Levitated up a tree (courtesy of James) and was screaming with fear.
“How are we going to get out of this mess?” panted Remus, wincing “ the burn he had on his cheek made speaking rather painful for him.
“What a question,” Sirius answered through clenched teeth, aiming a spell at Malfoy, “When they’re all on the ground and incapable of firing another hex, then we can go.” Remus raised his eyes to the heavens but gritted his teeth and gripped his wand more firmly than before.
Malfoy blocked Sirius’ spell in an almost lazy move of his wand and Sirius had to duck as his own spell came flying back to him.
James was annoyed at Malfoy’s certain abilities in duelling, but even more annoyed at the bored look on his haughty features as he blocked spell after spell. He suddenly noticed a small weakness “ a tiny one, but a weakness all the same “ Malfoy was not guarding his right side as much as he should have… James pointed his wand at Nott’s face, narrowing his eyes in concentration, then abruptly pointed it at Malfoy’s right side at the very last moment, muttering:
“Petrificus Totalus!”
Malfoy’s eyes widened in shock as he fell forward, stiff as a board, with a muffled squeak of surprise. James grinned and lowered his wand to pick up a handful of snow he aimed at Nott.
“Scourgify!”
James gagged as bubbles suddenly filled his mouth, choking him. He tried to spit out the soap, but more and more was forming in his throat, bubbling in his mouth, preventing him from breathing. He heard a peal of laughter behind him, then Sirius’ angry yell:
“YOU FILTHY COWARD! YOU HEXED HIM IN THE BACK!”
James fell on his knees, gagging and spitting soap; he was beginning to feel dizzy from the lack of oxygen, he desperately needed to breath… There was a rushing sound in his ears, and small red spots were dancing in front of his eyes…
“WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?”
The laughing stopped suddenly.
“Finite Incantatem!”
James spat out a last mouthful of soap and avidly took a deep breath, savouring the sensation of the air rushing into his lungs; still kneeling, he raised his head to find a white-faced Professor McGonagall, towering over him.
***
The door of professor McGonagall’s office opened and James, Sirius and Remus stepped out, looking a bit shaken. James carefully closed the door behind him and the three of them walked along the corridor, uncharacteristically quiet. When they had turned a corner, Sirius leaned against the wall and heaved a deep sigh.
“Well, it could’ve been worse.”
At these words, Remus almost cried out in frustration. “Really? We got two week’s detentions! That’ll last us ‘til the Christmas Holidays!”
Sirius raised his eyebrows at him in sincere surprise. “Oh, come on, Remus. Are you alive or aren’t you?”
“Well… yeah, I am, but “”
“Count yourself as lucky, then. My dear cousin Bellatrix would’ve killed you without second thoughts. She almost choked James to death with her Scourgify spell.”
“By the way, how’s your shoulder?” asked James hurriedly, trying to change the subject. He somehow had the feeling that the glory of having almost died had a strange tendency to disappear when soap bubbles were involved.
“Oh, fine, Madam Pomfrey fixed it in two seconds. Just like Remus’ cheek. She’s going to keep Peter a little longer, though; but she said he should be okay.”
“Great. Well, on the whole, we had fun, didn’t we?” said James cheerfully, as they climbed a staircase that would lead them to the sixth floor.
Remus stopped dead in his tracks.
“We had fun?” he repeated in a strangely high-pitched voice. “We had fun? We almost got killed, I’ve got a hell of a cold because we got wet and it was bloody chilly outside, we landed ourselves in detention for two weeks… And you said WE HAD FUN?”
James and Sirius turned around to look at him, taken aback. Remus never got upset “ and he never swore.
“What? Wasn’t it fun to throw snowballs at them? And did you see Snape’s face?” asked James.
“Well… I hardly did, as he didn’t have much of a face left once the pair of you had dealt with him, did he?” answered Remus reluctantly.
“I disagree, he was much more good-looking,” said Sirius with a straight face. James burst out laughing and Remus grinned in spite of himself.
“And what about Narcissa? Screaming on her tree?” asked Sirius, smiling dreamily at the recollection. James was shaking with laughter and Remus’ grin widened.
“And we did kick the Slytherins’ ass, didn’t we?” concluded Sirius.
“Yeah, we did,” hiccupped James, “and they’ve got twice as many detentions as we have, as they were older than us, and they’ve lost Slytherin the triple of points we lost Gryffindor. And half of them are still stuck in the hospital wing. That’s a complete victory!”
Remus closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them again and wearily ran a hand through his light-brown hair.
“I begin to understand what Anthony means. It’s tiring to be with you.”
“But it’s so much more fun,” said James happily, waving absent-mindedly his wand at a suit of armour. The suit swayed dangerously on the spot, then crashed on the floor with a deafening noise “ soon followed by a furious cry.
“What’s going on? WHO DID IT?”
The three boys started. “Filch,” said Sirius succinctly. Then the three of them broke into a run and didn’t stop until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
There, they nearly ran into a girl who was waiting just outside the portrait. “Sorry,” said James distractedly.
“No problem Potter,” answered a rather cold voice. James looked up and took several steps backward: he had just run into Eleanor Tackhild, the bespectacled, thick-haired sullen girl he had met at the Blacks’ party. She was one of Lucius’ Slytherin friends and had actually took part in the fight
Sirius had recognized her as well and automatically drew his wand.
“Wand away, Black,” spat Eleanor Tackhild, “I didn’t want to speak to you. I came to talk with Potter.”
“And what d’you want to tell me?” asked James warily. After all, she was a Slytherin; what was more, a Slytherin quite taller than him, not to mention much broader.
“Your aim is good,” she said simply.
James stared.
“I noticed that during the fight “ your aim’s really good. Do you play Quidditch?”
“Yes,” answered James, puzzled.
“Which position?”
“Cha “ why do you care?”
She shrugged. “Only asking. See you around, Potter.”
And she walked away.
James turned to give Remus and Sirius an enquiring look, as if waiting for an explanation. Remus looked blankly back, obviously as bemused as he was, and Sirius shook his head.
“Mental, the lot of them,” he commented. “C’mon, let’s get in. Blabbering Bumblebees.”
The portrait swung to allow them in the Common Room; before they had the time to step in, many hands shot towards them and grabbed their arms, pulling them forcefully into the room.
“HERE THEY ARE! THE LITTLE FIRST-YEARS!”
The whole Gryffindor house seemed gathered in the Common Room, cheering and clapping and laughing. James, Sirius and Remus exchanged a flabbergasted look as students they had never talked to started congratulating them, shaking their hands, filling their pockets with crisps and sweets and forcing bottles into their hands.
“A snowball fight with the Slytherins!” roared Katie Collins, looking quite beside herself. “Malfoy’s gang! Ten on four! All older than you! Half of them still in the hospital wing! Boys, this is great!!”
“Brilliant!”
“Incredible!”
“That’ll stay in Hogwarts’ memory, that will!”
***
“We are so great!” shouted Sirius that night, bouncing up and down on his bed, a large smile spread on his “ quite flushed “ face.
Remus sighed and looked helplessly at James. “I thought you were supposed to be the tiring one?”
James shrugged. “Yeah, but I don’t know what they had him drink at the party. He’s been a bit funny since…”
“That’s a bit of an understatement,” said Peter delicately. “He climbed the stairs hopping from step to step on one foot, singing loudly and very badly, and he spent the last half an hour dancing around the dormitory with his cauldron on his head.”
James and Remus sniggered.
“How did your meeting with McGonagall go?” asked Peter, unwrapping a toffee and stuffing it into his mouth. Having just returned from the Hospital Wing, he had not heard yet what sort of punishment they would suffer.
“Not that bad, if you ask me,” answered James, lying down on his bed with his hands behind his head and looking idly at the ceiling. “We’ve got our first detention Monday night, Slughorn’s office.”
Peter stopped chewing and paled slightly.
“Our first detention?” he repeated uncertainly. “How many did she give us?”
“Oh, only one for every evening of the two weeks until the Christmas Holidays,” said Remus sarcastically. “As Sirius so rightly said, it could’ve been worse, couldn’t it?”
“Speaking of the Christmas Holidays,” said James, yawning widely, “where are you guys going? I thought about the four of us staying at Hogwarts. Should be fun, shouldn’t it?”
“I can’t stay,” said Remus quickly.
A little too quickly.
Remus felt himself reddening under James’ suspicious glance. “I “ I mean…” he stammered. “I promised I would be home for the holidays… Family obligations, you know…” He glanced sideways at James, and hastily looked back at his book when he met his eye.
His friends had never asked him any question since the day James had Levitated Lily Evans. Every time Remus had had to leave the castle, he had said he went to visit his mum. Peter seemed satisfied by this explanation, and if Sirius had any doubt, he had forgotten them by the following morning. Thank God Sirius was the most thoughtless boy Remus had ever known “ any opportunity to play a prank on Snape would push the mystery surrounding Remus to the back of his mind. That was lucky, as he was smart enough to guess the truth if he really wanted to.
James, on the other hand, often made Remus deeply uneasy. He had the knack for spotting any tiny unusual thing, and he loved mysteries. Every time Remus had been about to let something slip about his condition, James had had that suspicious look on his face, even if the other two hadn’t paid any attention. Remus knew he wouldn’t be able to fool James much longer, but he simply couldn’t muster the courage of stopping being his friend. James was the most loyal friend, and what was more, stopping hanging around with him would mean giving up on Sirius and Peter’s friendship as well. Remus had long realised James was the centre of their little group; he and Sirius were the best friends in the world and Peter had for him a limitless admiration. Between James and Remus, the others wouldn’t hesitate a second.
Coward…
Remus was roughly pulled out his reverie when he received James’ pillow fully in the face.
“That Tackhild girl was right,” he growled, bending to retrieve the book he had dropped in shock. “Your aim’s too accurate for your own good. One day you’ll get cursed in the back if you don’t watch out.”
“I’ve already been, remember?” answered James lightly. “The Scourgify thing? Anyway, I was asking where you planned to go on holidays with your family, but maybe I’ll just let you go back to your planet. You’ll send me a postcard from there…”
Remus shrugged, smiling in spite of himself at James’ sarcasm. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay home with my parents.”
James raised his eyebrows at him. “That’s it? I would’ve thought staying at Hogwarts would be much more interesting than spending three weeks with your parents…”
“I already told you, I have family obligations,” said Remus, now a little annoyed at James’ insistence.
“And so what?” scoffed James. “So do I. I’m supposed to attend that stupid big party my parents give every year at Christmas. But I can write and say I’ll stay at Hogwarts instead, that’ll spare me the bloody family obligation.”
“Then why don’t you?” retorted Remus, his voice rising. “Do it and leave me alone, okay? You may think you’re above such things as family, but that’s not everybody else’s case!”
A ringing silence followed Remus’ answer; the only thing that could be heard in the room was Sirius’ vague singing. Peter and James just stared at Remus, wide-eyed in shock.
James was astounded; not only had he never been told such things “ his parents would never force him to do anything when he pointedly refused to “ , but being told them so sternly by Remus, who never got mad at anybody, was nothing short of startling.
Remus didn’t hold his gaze very long. He soon blushed and looked down, muttering “Sorry…”
James shook his head. “No, I’m sorry,” he said. “That was none of my business.”
There was an awkward pause, then James turned to Peter and asked loudly:
“You, Peter? Going home as well?”
“Well, yes,” said Peter, relieved that James and Remus had stopped arguing. “I have to see my Mum, or she’ll forget about me… Marina wrote to me… she said she was talking about me all the time to my Mum, showing her photos and everything, but Mum often answered she didn’t know who I was.” Peter raised his head and caught a shocked expression on James and Remus’ faces. They quickly hid their surprise, but Peter just smiled shyly.
“That’s all right, I’m not that surprised you know, I had never left her for such a long time…” He looked down, distractedly chewing the nails of his left hand, while he twisted his sheet in the fingers of his right hand. James shifted uneasily on his bed, wishing he hadn’t asked Peter. Stupid idiot. He should have guessed…
“In that case I just have to go home as well,” he said in an all-suffering voice, doing his best to interrupt Peter’s depressing thoughts. “I won’t be staying here if you three don’t stay with me. Spending Christmas all alone with Snivellus…” He comically shivered and made an ugly grimace, making Peter laugh; Remus himself, despite his argument with James, couldn’t help smiling.
“You didn’t ask Sirius,” Peter pointed out.
“Oh, I had forgotten him…”
“Lucky you,” muttered Remus, wincing as Sirius’ voice went particularly out of tune. James laughed, picked his pillow from the floor and threw it at Sirius. The latter lost his rather unsteady balance and landed flat on his back on the bed, laughing madly.
“Where’re you going for the holidays?” asked James, speaking loudly over Sirius’ giggles.
Sirius suddenly choked and emitted something that sounded suspiciously like a terrified squeak. Sitting bolt upright, he looked at James with an horrified expression.
“Oh no… I had forgotten… the holidays…” He buried his face into his hands. “How am I going to survive ‘til the beginning of next term?” he asked, his voice muffled but clearly desperate.
“What are you “ Oh!” Comprehension dawned on James’ face. “Your mother?”
Sirius nodded grimly. “My mother. She said that if I don’t show up at the Christmas Holidays, she’ll have me removed from Hogwarts. I have to go home… And she’ll make my holidays a living hell, you’ll see…”
He gripped his black hair with both hands and forcefully pulled on it in despair.
***
The holidays went awfully slowly. As much as James appreciated to be able to fly again all day long, he greatly missed his three friends. Peter and Sirius had written to him; Peter said he was having a good time with Marina and his mother, who had finally recognized him and was very happy to hear about his friends at school.
She keeps asking me for details about the three of you, he wrote. She’s surprisingly well, and she told me she used to know your father. She says very sensible things about your family “ the Healer who takes care of her said she’s in recovery! I’m so happy, I remember how she was before my Dad died, and she was the most kind woman I have ever known. Now I spend my whole time with her. Marina is so happy, too, she told me I had to thank you, and Sirius and Remus, for what you did, for me and my Mum. So I thank you very, very much.
Peter’s letter was dripping with such sincere joy and gratefulness James felt a lump forming in his throat. He felt almost guilty to have had a normal childhood, with normal, caring parents. He promised himself he would never let Peter down. Never, ever. He had always felt responsible for him anyway “ ever since he and Sirius had pulled him out of Snape’s filthy hands in the Hogwarts Express.
Sirius’ letter was much more bitter. He had used James’ owl, who had been sent to the Black family to bring them an invitation to the Potters’ annual Christmas party.
I’m lucky you sent your owl, I wouldn’t have been able to write to you otherwise. The crazy, maniac woman I have for a mother forbid me to send any owl. She even locked up Mercury, the owl I had for my eleventh birthday. Honestly, how more mental can you get? I’m almost bursting with frustration, the pale excuse for a human being that calls himself my brother is even worse than usual. The little git doesn’t want to stay with me in the same room, he shrieks in fright whenever I’m near him. My dear old mum must’ve told him I had a nasty disease “ something like the “Gryffindor syndrome”, I suppose. She yelled for at least two hours about how I had disgraced the family when I was sent in Gryffindor. Like her Howler, but ten times longer, you can imagine…
Anyway I don’t know if your parents received her answer yet, but we won’t be coming to your party… We have our own party at Christmas, and of course the whole pure-blood society is invited, save for your family. My mother cringes every time I utter the name “Potter”, it’s rather funny to see actually. Well I’m trying to give her as much hell as she gives me, I thought that maybe if I’m insufferable enough she’ll let me stay at Hogwarts next year. She already lost her temper twice. More than usual, I mean. In other words she cursed me, I had to stay in bed for two days. I refused to eat, just to piss her off.
I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, I don’t like to talk about my family. But I had to tell someone, otherwise I would’ve exploded. I know I don’t need to ask you, but… Could you please keep all I tell you for yourself? I don’t fancy being seen as the poor little kid complaining or something like that…
Anyway it’s a fair bet that’ll be the longest letter you’ll ever receive from me, I hate writing. Now I’ll stop before I scare myself. See you at Hogwarts.
James found himself grinning broadly at the end of the letter, even if he did feel sorry for Sirius. He was proud Sirius trusted him with so much; James was probably the one who knew him best, even if he had known him for barely more than three months. Yet, Sirius had never confided in him like that.
He didn’t answer to the letter, as he had the strong suspicion Mrs Black would intercept her son’s mail, and the last thing he wanted to do was getting Sirius into more trouble. He had expected the Blacks’ refusal to go to his parents’ party, but he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed “ maybe Sirius and he would have been able to go flying again…
He had written to Remus, careful not to ask anything that could embarrass his friend. He was very careful around Remus now, and so were Sirius and Peter. Yet the mystery surrounding Remus was fascinating him more and more… His curiosity was even more aroused when Remus sent a very short reply, thanking him for his letter and hoping his holidays were going well. That laconic and cold letter was not like Remus at all; what was he so keen in hiding from James?… Well, he had no chance to discover it before coming back at Hogwarts…
All in all, James was glad the holidays ended at last.
***
“Freedom!” shouted Sirius hoarsely, widely spreading his arms as they got off the train at Hogsmeade Station. James laughed.
“Yeah, I’m glad to be back, too,” he said, looking fondly at the castle they could see in the distance.
“I need to recover from my holidays with my mother,” said Sirius, a hungry glint in his eyes. “Where’s Snivellus?”
Remus had a feeble smile. “You’re not going to attack him right now, are you? You just had two weeks’ detentions…”
Sirius pushed this objection away with an irritated wave of his hand.
“I can’t exactly hex my mother, can I? And I need to hex somebody, otherwise I’m gonna explode. So it’s either you or Snivellus. What’s your choice?”
Remus dismissively shrugged.
“Go for Snivellus, then. I’d rather keep my face as it is “ I grew rather fond of it since I saw what Snape looked like after he had found himself on the receiving end of your hexes.”
“Excellent,” said Sirius in a satisfied voice. “Cheer up, Peter!” he added, thumping Peter in the back. “You haven’t said a word since King’s Cross!”
Peter shrugged. “My Mum was crying when she saw me leaving,” he mumbled. “I’m a bit depressed…”
Sirius and James exchanged a look. “Hey, you’ll write to her,” said Remus consolingly.
“And we can write to her as well!” said James in a sudden wave of inspiration. Sirius grimaced.
“I hate writing,” he said, “but for your Mum I’ll do anything. With the mother I have, I consider it’s my duty to cheer up every decent mum who’s left on this planet!”
Peter had a small, rather watery smile. But it was still a smile. Suddenly he didn’t feel lonely anymore.
***
“Look, I know we swore we wouldn’t ask him any questions, but he’s disappeared four times since the beginning of the year! And he comes back covered in scratches and looking as if he had been sick for two weeks! Plus all the bullshit he gives us as explanations… Registration problems… Visiting his mum… That’s definitely dodgy!”
“I’m well aware of it, d’you think I’m less curious than you are?” James sounded truly offended by this suggestion. “But I’m glad to have him as a friend and I won’t make him uneasy by asking him awkward questions. That’s his business, not ours.”
Sirius shot at James a look that could have expressed either disgust or disbelief, or both.
“So you’re not going to try and find out about him? There’s a whole mystery right under your nose and you’re gonna sit here and watch?”
James glanced around them: the library was darkening and they were alone; Remus had still not returned from the Common Room, where he had gone to fetch a new roll of parchment.
James leant forward.
“Who said I wasn’t going to try and find out? I just said I wasn’t going to talk to Remus about it.”
He gave Sirius a significant glance. A smile slowly crept across Sirius’ face and he leant back in his chair, his eyes gleaming mischievously. Peter looked at James with admiration. James simply smiled and started drumming his fingers on the table, every thought of homework forgotten as his brain began to work furiously on the Remus Mystery.
**********
A/N: Wow, the longest chapter ever! Again, some trouble writing it “ I actually ended up with three different “chapter 6”. Hope I chose the good one.
We are reaching the end of the “first-year” part of Symphony for Quartet. Only one or two chapters left, then we move on to the next year… Chapter 7 will not be expected before some time though, as my (very short) holidays end today.
Enjoy!