Perspectives: The Prank

Act Two: The Aftermath

Peter Pettigrew

Sirius returned to the common room sometime the following day, looking horrible, more like a vagrant than a student. His hair was disheveled, and his robes were bloodstained. His eyes were wide and unseeing. Peter wondered what the other Gryffindors thought when they saw him enter the common room. Here in the dormitory, Peter and James had skived off class waiting for their friend and discussing the events of the past night. They figured Sirius was off speaking to Dumbledore for the first few hours, but had no idea why he was gone all morning as well. The hours continued to pass. Sirius had finally stumbled in. He collapsed onto his bed, with his head on his knees and hands clasped behind his neck. He was shivering all over.

"What did Dumbledore say?" Peter asked, knowing that he was saying the wrong thing (as usual,) and stumbling over his words anyhow.

Sirius looked up, lost in his thoughts, and confused. "Dumbledore? Oh nothing of consequence... that his parents could be there tonight."

Peter looked at James and was relieved to see that he was not the only one confused. James, as usual, spoke for both of them.

"What... happened Sirius? After I sent you to the Shack?"

The story spilled out of the other boy amid gasps and in incomplete phrases. He got the message across. Sirius had arrived, stayed with Lupin who lay bleeding, helped Pomfrey when she arrived, to save him, waited while she reported back to Dumbledore, and seen the parents arrive. He had walked the grounds with Remus's father and listened to his stories - unable to tell him that it was his, Sirius's, fault that Remus was slowly dying.

Peter felt the urge to wrap his arms around the other boy (it was what his sisters did when they were upset), but could not make himself do so. He had no idea what he should do, or who he should blame. Remus always knew what to do in these situations, he could occasionally talk some sense into James and Sirius. Peter was frozen by indecision. Sirius needed comfort, but it was Sirius who set the whole thing up in the first place. James seemed shaken, but it was James who had nearly killed his best friend. If Remus died, wouldn't it be both their faults?

"Damn that Snivellus," he finally said, and knew it was the wrong thing when neither responded at all. They spent the rest of the day and evening in miserable silence. McGonagall allowed them one brief visit to the shack. None of them could stay very long. Night fell, and Peter had the tingling sensation which meant he was supposed to do something and had forgotten (his mum said it was like a built in Rememberall). He realised what was missing. Remus. He should, right now, be running the grounds with his Animagi friends. More hours passed. Peter tried to read, but found the others' small movements quite distracting.

James finally jumped up. Peter looked at him expectantly. He had been waiting for one of them to take action, and Sirius was in no kind of shape to do much of anything right then. "We're going back!" James declared.

They snuck out of the castle under his invisibility cloak (which seemed smaller than ever before), and made their way to the Whomping Willow. Once they'd reached the shack and gone inside, everything was silent. James stared at the bloodstains on the floor, then led them upstairs.

When they arrived in the bedroom, both Remus's parents were fast asleep. There was no sign of anyone else in the room. Peter looked closely at the wolf on the bed, thought that he was going to be sick, and left for the landing. Presently James followed. He looked pale and anxious. They waited, but Sirius did not reappear.

James risked a glance back into the room, "What are you doing?" he hissed a moment later. Peter too, chanced a look inside.

Sirius was curled up on the bed beside Remus, muzzle to face, one hand resting on the wolf's silvery neck. James and Peter rushed in to pull him off. "Are you daft? What if he woke up?" James attempted to shout in a whisper so as not to wake the parents.

"I'd get what I deserved," replied Sirius.

"No. You'd get bitten, and he would be sent away for doing it. Is that what you want?"

"No," replied Sirius sulkily.

"Come on then, I feel like we're being watched." They left the shack, having said their odd goodbyes.

Peter did his best in the ensuing weeks to hold their little band together. This was no easy task, but he was more determined than he'd been about anything before in his young life. Remus, to Peter's great surprise, survived the night, and began to recover. He rejoined them in the Gryffindor common room by the end of the week. Not all damage healed so quickly however.

Dumbledore's punishment for Sirius was not in the form of detentions or labour. To everyone's great surprise he did not even dock points from Gryffindor house (this would draw too much attention to the incident, he said.) Sirius was, however, responsible for telling Lupin the entire story of what had happened that night. He was placed on probation, and an owl was sent home to his parents.

Dumbledore had taken Sirius to the Shack the day Remus awoke. Sirius had told him the whole truth. The usually serene boy's ongoing fury was frightening to watch. Peter wasn't sure, at first, that anything would ever be the same again. Sirius was a groveling, then angry, mess. Peter secretly thought Sirius was going over the edge. James walked on eggshells around Lupin, and spent most of his time trying to prevent Sirius from doing something stupid. Lily Evans, once his mission in life, seemed utterly forgotten. (Though Peter noticed that she was now trying unsuccessfully to catch James's attention, something she'd never done before.) These escapades left Remus, who had much work to catch up, and Peter alone together much of the time.

Lupin never said much that was not related to schoolwork. He resigned his position as prefect, and returned to classes the moment that Pomfrey would allow it, although Peter saw him wince when sitting down on more than one occasion. Flitwick had given him a charmed quill, and he was using it to write left-handed. As the weeks passed, however, wounds all closed, and bandages were finally removed. Remus still did not acknowledge Sirius's presence, a difficult feat for two boys who lived in the same dormitory. Lupin rose early, spent most of his spare time in the library, and Sirius always returned to the tower late, if at all.

One day, just as Peter was adjusting to the new order of things, everything changed. He awoke in the early morning to the three other boys playing an animated game of exploding snap, and discussing their plans for the next full moon. He lay quietly in bed, pretending to be asleep, and trying to understand. One friend had used another in the most thoughtless way possible. One had risked another's life. Two had faced off in a life or death struggle. One had nearly committed murder. Now they were discussing plans to create a magical map - of all nonsensical things. The violence and betrayal seemed completely forgotten. Friends, he supposed, could forgive each others' weaknesses, no matter how much damage they caused. It was a lesson he would never forget.

Lily Evans

Lily was fuming. She had a very important Arithmancy test coming up in preparation for next year's N.E.W.T.s, and instead of studying in the relative quiet of her dormitory, she was escorting a group of first-year sprogs to the astronomy tower for the fourth night in a row. Studying by wandlight in a remote stairwell was hardly conducive to proper learning. She had given up on the second night. Instead, she spent the following visits resenting her fellow prefect's malingering.

She had yet, after almost two years of working alongside him (or not, as was often the case), to understand why Dumbledore had selected Remus Lupin to be a prefect at all. True he was a studious boy in a class that was known for its imbeciles and clowns (however brilliant some of them were.) True he was organized and helpful, but what did that matter if he was never around? In fact, she might have been worried about his excessively long absence on this occasion, but he'd disappeared so many times before. He always returned happy and whole. True he had never gotten into much trouble, but he was a Marauder- so really all that meant was that he never got caught! Responsible students don't call your gang 'Marauders' unless they have good reason, and with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, there had been good reasons for as long as Lily could remember. If Professor Dumbledore had made Remus a prefect to rein in his friends in any way, the man had sorely misjudged.

On several occasions, Lily had asked Remus to speak to James about his inclination towards being a complete prat. Remus had responded "He's my friend," as if that absolved James of having any faults whatsoever. Lily had tried to explain that one could disapprove of a person and still be his friend. Remus had shrugged, but never done anything to change the situation. Recalling her associate's ineptitude, Lily banged the wall in frustration. She immediately regretted it, as she rubbed her stinging knuckles. She decided that righteous anger was getting her nowhere, and decided to pen a letter to her parents.

Several days later, eating breakfast in the Great Hall, Lupin made his reappearance. Merlin, thought Lily, He does look as though he's been run over by the Knight Bus. She resolved to speak to him after breakfast, and preferably not in the presence of his friends.

"You look concerned, bad news from home?" asked a female voice to Lily's right, indicating the letter in Lily's hand.

"Oh no, not at all," Lily replied, flashing a carefree smile. "My sister's still dating that Dursley chap."

"The wrestler? From Smeltings?"

"Yes, the one who bullies anyone smaller than him- which, come to think of it, is most anyone in Britain."

"He sounds like a charmer," she said sarcastically.

"He sounds like several boys I know," Lily replied haughtily, nodding towards Sirius Black and James Potter. Despite her words, she couldn't help noticing how vividly hazel Potter's bullying eyes were, as he juggled several glasses of pumpkin juice for Black's amusement. She quickly turned back to her letter. Lupin, she noticed, wasn't sitting with his friends, which was odd considering they'd thrown him a 'welcome back' party only last night. Instead, he was picking at his toast a short distance away, while reading his potions text.

She slid onto the bench beside him.

"Remus Lupin. Where have you been all week?" She was about to comment on the number of first-year astronomy classes she'd viewed in his absence, but the dark shadows under his eyes and hollow cheeks he turned towards her silenced any fury. "Are you alright?" She asked instead.

He smiled, nodded, and looked slightly more himself. "Been traveling. You wouldn't believe the bumpy train ride last night. Couldn't get a moment's rest." He yawned dramatically.

She was going to inform him that it looked as though he'd been on the train for many nights, but thought better of it. "Lupin, I have to speak with you."

"Evans, we are speaking."

"I know, but I need to speak to you in an official capacity, prefect to prefect and all."

Remus nodded. Then added, "well, go on then."

Lily paused. Now that she was facing him, she was unsure she could actually say the words she had thought about all week. She swallowed, then continued, "I just.. I just think that maybe... If you've got other things going on... maybe being a prefect... well..."

"I entirely agree," he said softly.

"With... umm... what?" she asked, to be sure that he had understood her drabble.

"That I should step down as prefect."

"I don't mean that- well, I don't mean to be mean."

"No you're right," he smiled sadly. "In light of... last week, I think that's fair."

Lily sighed. She was a little bit relieved, but felt oddly deflated. She didn't know how to continue.

"I'll speak to Dumbledore," he said, then added, "I should go. I'll be late for class," In a moment he was standing, awkwardly shouldering his bag, and slowly walking away.

The next week, without any explanation to the students, and with very little ceremony, Dumbledore appointed one James Potter to the post of Gryffindor sixth year prefect. Lily had rolled her eyes. Instead of the page, she had to work with the king of the Marauders, and she had no one to blame but herself for the change.

Later, Lily wondered if perhaps she preferred the quiet Remus Lupin to James blasted Potter. At least when Remus was around, she could trust him to look after the younger students. She remembered once catching him teaching a group of wide-eyed second-years how to perform a Dungbomb Detection Spell. He watched each in turn try the charm, and carefully critiqued their execution. She remembered Potter's and Black's faces when one of these well-trained nippers had found the dungbombs hidden under his chair, and floated them over the Marauders' heads. Remus had shone with pride, put an arm casually over Black's shoulders, and guided him away from the offending pellets. "If I didn't know better, Padfoot, I'd say those second-years just pulled one over on the king of all pranksters," she'd heard him say. Remus was laughing at the scandalized look on his friend's face.

James, in contrast, she had recently caught buying a third-year's silence with chocolate frogs. He made the wide eyed girl promise not to tell a soul that Sirius had grown great feelers on her forehead, "just because he felt like it." James clearly felt the need to clean up Black's messes faster than McGonagall could spot them. That overwhelming task alone seemed to demand much of his time. He was lucky that magic came so easily to him, as he certainly had no time to study. She almost felt sorry for Potter. In fact, and would make an effort to smile at him in the hallways. The stresses of both prefect duty and trying to keep a rein on Black's excesses (which had reached new heights in the past weeks) were taking their toll on James. His hair was always messy, though recently it looked significantly less glamorously so, he hadn't come to a single Young Political Wizard's League meeting since becoming prefect, and she hadn't seen him playing with his golden snitch in a very long while. He met her in the common room disheveled and exhausted after his third astronomy night.

"Merlin's Beard, Evans, I don't know how you manage it," he said, sinking into an armchair beside her.

She smiled. She never thought she'd live to see the day that James Potter wasn't in control of everything and everyone around him.

"S'not that bad really, being a prefect."

"Yeah, but you're not trying to keep Sirius from being... well..."

"Sirius?"

"Yeah, I guess. I was going to say 'expelled.'"

"Lupin could manage him, well most of the time."

"Then he was the only one. Besides, Sirius is different now. He doesn't seem to care. Gah! I'm sorry. I don't mean to bore you with all this."

"It's alright. Shame they aren't speaking."

"You noticed." To Lily's astonishment, James looked honestly saddened by her words. He stared at his hands, and twined strong fingers around one another. She'd never seen him act like this, even with his closest friends, and she was oddly moved.

"Why is that?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Hmm? Oh. It's nothing."

She didn't believe him, but made herself wait patiently for him to say more.

"Well, that's not true. It is something. Sirius did something, and I don't think Remus will ever forgive him."

"Should he be forgiven?"

James paused. Evidently, this was not a question he was prepared to answer. "Well, maybe not. But I want him to. I'd kind of like things to be the way they were."

A part of Lily kind of liked the way things were right now, but she wouldn't say this out loud.

"Well, then do something," she said instead.

James paused. "I don't have the right," he said almost wistfully.

"Since when does James Potter need 'the right' to do anything?" she asked sarcastically.

He laughed. It was the happiest she'd seen him since he became prefect.

"You know what Miss Evans? I think you may just be on to something." He flashed her a brilliant, if tired, smile, and bounded up the stairs to his dormitory. She looked after him for several minutes, more confused than she'd been in a long time.

They next morning, she saw the four boys, all four Marauders huddled together in a corner of the common room. They were whispering and clearly planning something diabolical. She frowned, almost missing the sad quiet of the night before, and felt like she may have lost herself a friendship before it started. Once again, she had no one to blame but herself. She didn't know how long she'd been staring at the boys when James turned around. He caught her gaze from across the common room, and winked conspiratorially, his eyes gleaming. From behind him, Sirius, Remus, and Peter waved.

Perhaps she hadn't lost a friendship at all. Perhaps she had just gained four of them.

Remus Lupin

Remus was floating on soft clouds in the sun. He opened his eyes every now and again, smiled at the indistinct faces in front of him, and drank deeply of whatever sweet liquid they poured down his throat. Then a heavy sleep would take him. He woke from one of these restful naps, and found that he could focus his vision, hold his eyelids up for more than a few seconds, and think through the warm fog in his brain. He smiled bemusedly at the person beside him, feeling nothing but warm and cozy.

"Good morning Madam Pomfrey," he said. Taking in the bed, and her presence beside it, he added, "Rough night then?"

She gave him a curious look, and he began to sort through his sleep-addled memory for a reason why. Snippets came back to him. He'd dreamt of his mother looking over him, stroking his hair. He remembered Sirius's face framed by the full moon light. He remembered the thrill of an attack and shuddered, remembered leaping at his prey, remembered landing on... what? "What happened?" he said aloud, frightened by what he could recall. "What did I do? Was anyone hurt?"

"Only yourself Mr. Lupin." A peculiar sense of relief filled him. Things were normal then. "Do I have time to write a potions essay before tonight's full moon?"

She looked oddly at him once again. These gaps in knowledge were starting to frustrate him. He tried to sit up, and realised that he wasn't able, nor could he use his right hand. He was beginning to be frightened again, and looked wide-eyed at the nurse. Her eyebrows knitted.

"I've cast a numbing charm - to make waking up easier," she said apologetically. "You've no need to worry about the moon. There are still twenty-two days before the next one.

He did the maths. "Six days!? I've lost six days?! How?"

"I think I have someone who can help answer that," said the steady voice of Albus Dumbledore, now striding into the room. Hugging the wall behind him, as if he would rather sink into it than be here, was Sirius Black.

Remus smiled then looked innocently and quizzically at his friend. Now that he had reached the bed, Black held his head high. Remus felt oddly comforted by the boy's presence. He could not forget the image of Black's face silhouetted in the moonlight. The memory was so clear and still, so unlike those from his other transformations. It was as if, by some magic, he had been completely human that night, for that moment. He couldn't remember seeing a moon like that since he was a very small boy. Wandering in his thoughts, Remus had lost track of the story, something about Snape interfering, annoying Sirius...

"...So I told him how to freeze the willow."

Suddenly Remus was all attention, though feelings of hurt and confusion had begun to cloud his vision. He felt a pounding at his temple.

"And he came here?" Remus asked. Sirius nodded, then continued.

"Peter had told James, who came to stop him. He was too late, and had to use the Prongs spell to stop you instead. Then I got here, then Pomfrey, then your parents. There was so much blood. I tried to clean it. No one could heal you until you woke up and took the right potions. We've been waiting for you to wake up." Through the pounding in his head, Remus barely noted Sirius's uncharacteristically earnest expression or the concern in his eyes.

"Black was here, every day, by your side," offered Pomfrey in an attempt to be helpful. It wasn't.

Remus couldn't' look at any of them, not even the wizened headmaster. Anger was rising, and he couldn't do anything about it. He didn't know whether the burning feeling in his stomach was due to his emotions or the fading of the numbing charm. He clenched his teeth, hoping to hide the wave of emotion from everyone present. "Just leave please," was all he could say. He took a sip of potion, and slept again.

The following morning, he awoke hungry enough to eat a hippogriff, and was relieved to see only Pomfrey in the room. "Good morning," he began, "Could I trouble you for some breakfast?" She smiled.

"I thought you'd never ask. What would you like?"

A hearty lamb stew was all he could think of, but feeling that this would be inappropriate, only said, "Perhaps some toast?"

After eating, she changed the bandages, and he saw for the first time, the horrific extent of the damage. He must have looked shocked because she said comfortingly, "don't you worry dear. As you're awake now, we'll soon have you mended and right as rain. This won't even leave a scar"

Sure enough, he returned to Gryffindor tower two nights later, to an impromptu party thrown by James, Peter, and Sirius. He was in no mood to celebrate. In comparison to the worries he now faced, the last week in the infirmary felt like holiday. Now he had over a week of schoolwork to make up - all at N.E.W.T. level. Pomfrey had refused to teach him the numbing charm, mumbling something about addiction, so his arm, torso, and various other bruisings were throbbing with every movement. Worst of all, he knew that his secret was no longer safe. The happy bubble, in which he had spent the last few years, had popped because Sirius Black had punctured it.

Now In the faces around him, Remus only saw the potential for condemnation once Snape revealed his knowledge. Snape's awareness of his condition wasn't at all like his friends'. It was accompanied by unrelenting doubt not relief. Above all this, he still felt the sting of Sirius's betrayal. Sirius had used him to fulfill some vendetta against Severus Snape; used him not as a co-conspirator, but as a weapon.

He walked out of Gryffindor tower alone the following morning. As he marched down the seemingly endless steps, he wondered how he would ever have the energy to climb them again in the evening. The eyes of the students around him seemed to speak to him. You aren't human, they said. He felt again the guilty squirm when he thought of the nights he, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, had escaped the Shrieking Shack. The fun and freedom had lulled him. He had almost felt like one of them, out for a grand adventure. He had almost forgotten that he was indeed a very dangerous monster. Sirius had reminded him, and Remus hated him for it.

He met a fellow prefect, Lily Evans in the great hall at breakfast. She spoke to him hesitatingly. Did she know? No. She simply didn't think he deserved to be a prefect. He agreed. He spoke to Dumbledore the following afternoon. Dumbledore had offered him another five days to decide if he was sure. He was. Dumbledore had asked who he would choose to replace himself. "James Potter," he'd replied without hesitation.

In the weeks following, he absolutely refused to acknowledge his best friend, and with Sirius went James. That's the way it had always been. In renouncing one, he had lost two.

Wallowing in loss and worry, treating the rapidly disappearing scars, and meeting with professors to do extra work seemed to consume all of his time. He studied all hours in the library, and chewed the ends of his quills to shreds. Peter often accompanied him to get help writing his essays, although they both contributed fairly evenly to the work. Remus was growing accustomed to Peter's company - to all the inane questions that required little thought to their answers. He tried his best to ignore Sirius's downward spiral and James's efforts to keep the boy afloat. No matter what time, he returned to his bed exhausted every night.

"I heard professor McGonagall say she'd have to consider suspending Sirius if he hexes another first year..." Peter told him carefully as they studied in the library one day. Remus tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"Will you ever stop being angry with him? He cares, I think. He's sorry."

Remus sighed, "I know, and I will." As he said it, he knew the words were true. He couldn't stay angry forever; he didn't have the energy. Ultimately, the knowledge of Sirius's betrayal carried less weight than the memory of his face. That night, Remus lay awake in bed, considering all the things that were important to him. He remembered the mornings that he woke up grumpy, wishing that the world would just go away. Sirius always seemed to know. He would lean over towards Remus, point to his pillow, then to Peter's sleeping form. He would silently count to three, and within a minute, Remus would find himself laughing amid a flurry of feathers, pillows, sheets, and friends. Remus remembered the relief on Sirius's face whenever he talked them out of a tight spot with one of the teachers. He remembered running with Padfoot, the great black dog, tussling and rolling over fresh grass in the moonlight. Though he was a werewolf, he hadn't felt any more monstrous than the canine beside him. Remus ran a hand along his own face and neck. He wasn't necessarily a monster, and Sirius had helped him see that. Was a moment of thoughtlessness worth losing it again?

He got up, and went into the adjoining bathroom. In the dim light, he removed his pyjama shirt, and examined himself in the mirror. He was still very thin, but his skin was smooth. He ran his fingers over the places where so recently his insides had been exposed. A soft voice spoke from the doorway. Remus hadn't even heard the incoming steps.

"It's ironic isn't it, that you can be so ripped apart on the inside, but all the marks just fade away?"

"Trouble sleeping Sirius?" Out of recent habit, he kept his voice cold.

"Always... these days"

They stood silently for a minute or more. Then both turned, as a third joined their number. His hair was even more untidy than usual. "So there's a party in here," James yawned, "no one told me."

"I was just going to bed," Remus said mildly.

"Oh no you're not." They both looked at James, surprised. He continued, "Moony. I'm tired of this delicate invalid act. It doesn't suit you. And Sirius. You've never been good at moody and brooding, at least not for very long. We all need to talk, and now is as good a time as any."

"Fine."

"Fine."

There was a long silence.

"Okay then. I'll start. Moony. Remus. I feel so guilty about what happened, that sometimes I can't breathe. I almost killed you. I never meant..."

Remus looked at him askance. "If you hadn't, I'd have done you... and Snape. Then I would've been hunted and killed by hit wizards from the Registry. Sirius would be tried as an accomplice to murder and sent to Azkaban. No James. You did what you had to. You saved us all. I'm only sorry I never thanked you."

"That's right. James, you're the hero, and I'm the monster, the one that caused all of this. I destroy everything I touch. My dear old mum was right after all."

"No," said Remus again, a steely edge to his voice, "you aren't a monster. None of us is. Padfoot my friend, you just don't always think before you act."

"Neither do I, always," added James. "It's what makes us fallible, human. Moony, I'll grant you, is a little better than the rest of us."

"Especially as I've milked this for all it's worth," Remus added sarcastically.

"Well that was a bit dumb," concurred James.

"Honestly though, Sirius," Remus continued more soberly, meeting Sirius's stormy grey eyes, "that night you... I... I don't know that I would've stayed... for anyone else."

"You stopped breathing. I thought..."

"I hoped that maybe, if I didn't exhale, the moment wouldn't pass."

There was silence and Remus knew that he and Sirius both remembered a night lit by the full moon, smiling lips in the palest of faces, raw hands clasped in whole ones, the moment everything could have ended but didn't. James looked from one to the other, and didn't say a word. Remus smiled slightly, as James appeared to sense that he was intruding on a moment of unfamiliar intimacy. Then the feeling passed.

"Well," said Sirius beginning to sound like his old self again, "Though I be an unthinking fool, an idea was born in this shallow head as McGonagall caught me hexing young Smythe in the corridor today."

"Oh really?" asked Remus, as always amused when his friend tried to imitate the fifth floor portrait of The Bard, one of their favourites. "And what, pray tell, is the nature of your fine idea?"

"A map!"

"A map?"

"But no ordinary map."

"A magical map?"

"It shall be a map to aid purveyors of magical mischief the world over - or at least in Hogwarts."

"It shall be called a Marauders map!"

"Alright. I'm game."

"Fetch a game of exploding Snape... err Snap. It helps me think. Then we'll discuss our plans."

The three of them, laughing and plotting, played exploding snap well into the night. They wondered why Peter had never left his bed. It was just as well. They were busy making things okay again.

FIN