The Original Mapmakers

Chapter 4

Bring on the Rain

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
-William Jennings Bryan

Remus lay face down on his bed. It had to be at least 12:00 p.m., but he couldn't sleep, even though tomorrow was their first day of classes. He pounded his fist on his pillow.

How could he have been so stupid? Making friends, when he knew what the consequences of that could be. His father would have been ashamed of him. He thought back to just after he had gotten his Hogwarts letter, when his father had pulled him aside and told him not to ever get close to anyone.

Remus sat up in bed, holding his face in his hands. His parents had had good jobs and good friends before it had happened. It was his fault that they didn't now. His father had has good as told him it was his fault.

Well, he would just have to ignore his new friends. If he didn't pay attention to them, they would leave him alone. Besides, tomorrow he would have to visit with Madam Pomfrey about going to the Whomping Willow to change every month. He couldn't afford to have anyone tagging along after him when he went to see her. Yeah. Ignore them. That's what he would do.

Little did Remus know that he was not the only one not getting any sleep.

In the next bed Sirius Black stared up at the ceiling. He could hear movement in Remus' bed, it sounded like he was attempting to beat himself up with a pillow. He grinned at this amusing picture, then quickly sobered as he thought of what was keeping him up at this time. He had seen her.

When Sirius' father had been killed, Sirius had not even been born yet. But Brandon Black had had another child before Sirius.

Fortuna Black had been six years old when the government took her away from her mentally unstable mother to live with her Aunt and Uncle. But either they didn't know about Jessica Black's other child, or they hadn't cared.

But either way, Fortuna's aunt and uncle had made it perfectly clear that they didn't want anything to do with Jessica or Sirius, maybe because they just wanted one kid or maybe because they thought that since Sirius was a boy he would be like his father. And they had bred this belief in Fortuna, who hated both Sirius and Jessica.

Even though Sirius hadn't seen Fortuna in three years, he recognized her. It was hard not to, with her raven black hair and eyes, she was an almost perfect replica of Sirius. Their looks reflected the hint of Spanish in their blood. She was a prefect in Ravenclaw.

As Sirius had started to leave with the rest of the Gryffindor's to go up to their common room, he heard one of the other Ravenclaw's ask Fortuna, "Hey, is that your little brother? He looks like you."

And Fortuna had turned toward him, with obvious detest, and said, "No, I've never seen him before."

The other Ravenclaw had looked confused and said, "But he has the same last name as you."

"Maybe so," said Fortuna, "but we are definitely not related."

Sirius didn't understand why she hated him so much.

~*~*~

"What's wrong with Remus?"

James' worried face peered over the top of his Charms book at Lily, who shrugged as she looked over at her friend, who was practicing the 'swish and flick' Professor Flitwick was teaching them.

"He's been out of it all day." They were sharing classes with the first year Hufflepuffs because of the shortage of students. Jeremiah Friedle, a Hufflepuff with a crew cut that contrasted strangely with his large plastic glasses, leaned over to talk to them.

"Why do you care?" he asked, wrinkling his brow.

"Because he's our friend," said Lily sharply. Jeremiah should have gotten the hint by her tone, but not being the brightest of people, kept going on.

"You don't think he seems a little...off?" he asked.

James' eyes narrowed as Peter asked, "What do you mean?" Richard Abbott leaned in to the conversation.

"That guy's creepy," he said.

"Hey, he's our friend, okay?" snapped Sirius. Richard shrugged.

"Whatever you say," he muttered.

"Well, I'm going over to talk to him," said Lily. She and Jaime stood up.

"Wait, we're coming too!" cried Peter. They all stood and walked over to Remus, who was now standing by the window, while Professor Flitwick was absorbed in his 'swish and flick.'

But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't seem to get Remus to talk to them. For a long time he didn't say anything, until finally he stared dreamily out the window and said, "It's going to rain today."

Sirius and James looked out the window. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the sun shone cheerily down on Hogwarts.

Richard and Jeremiah exchanged meaningful glances. "Come on, guys, I guess Remus doesn't want to talk to us," said James sadly.

~*~*~

Their next class was Potions with the Slytherins, who were practically unbearable since they had so many more students than the Gryffindors. Professor Bubbles made it worse. The first thing he made sure of when he introduced himself was that they didn't make fun of his name. With his wrinkled face, eye patch, and gnarled wooden cane, he didn't have to worry.

It was also obvious which students he preferred best.

At one point he scared Peter so much that he knocked over his cauldron. "You, there," he had said, "the round one." He clunked up to Peter and stared him in the face. Peter cringed. "Tell me, what is the difference between monkshood and aconite?"

"I d-don't know," Peter paused, "Sir." Professor Bubbles' lip curled. "Stupid boy," he said, spraying Peter with spit. "I suppose you thought you could just walk in here without having read anything in your books."

Peter went very red. Why did everyone have to pick on him? "B-but I did read them, sir, I just...forgot."

"You forgot," said the professor, disdain in his voice. "Well, next time you won't 'forget,' now, will you?" The whole time he said this he was leaning closer and closer to Peter until their noses were half an inch from each other. Peter's eyes were wide as he tried to process his words. "I-I," was all he got out.

"Leave him alone," said James. The Slytherins, who had been snickering over Peter's misfortune, turned to watch.

Professor Bubbles clunked over to where he sat. James stared boldly at him, although Sirius noticed how his hands gripped the edge of his seat while the professor gave him 'the Bubble eye,' as they would soon come to call it.

"So, you think I'm being too hard on him, eh?" he asked in his thick Scottish accent. James didn't answer, he just kept staring at him. "Why don't you tell me the difference between monkshood and aconite?"

"I can't," said James. Professor Bubbles gave him a triumphant smile. "I thought so." He then proceeded to tell the class the difference between a good student and a bad one.

"Now," he said, can anyone tell me the answer to the question? Or are all of you just as dense as Pettigrew and Potter here? By the way, ten points from Gryffindor." The Gryffindors' groaned as Severus Snape poked Sirius in the back and laughed in his face. "Slimy little git," muttered Sirius under his breath.

At first, it seemed no one was going to answer, but then Remus raised his hand. Everyone turned to stare at him. Professor Bubbles looked angry. "Out with it, then, and if you get it wrong that's another five points from Gryffindor."

Remus blinked. "It's wolfsbane," he said. Professor Bubbles frowned. "And what is it used for?"

"It's used sometimes to ward off werewolves, and sometimes even to kill them."

"Tell us exactly what happens when a werewolf swallows pure wolfsbane."

"It- it combusts their insides," said Remus nervously, "and causes internal bleeding so that the wolf dies in hours."

Professor Bubbles nodded, although not looking happy. Sirius raised his eyebrows at James.

They then proceeded to make a simple disappearing solution which could be used to cure warts. Surprisingly, Peter was the best out of all of them at Potions, because while he often couldn't remember what he had for breakfast, he had a very calculating mind and could measure things exactly, while Remus turned out to be horrible at things like this, which was revealed when the potion exploded all over him, causing Bubbles to take a hefty thirty points from Gryffindor.

After Potions was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, who wasn't very much fun but at least was fair.

After lunch, since they had a free afternoon today and were sitting in the common room, Sirius, James, and Peter were animatedly telling some second and third years how they had slipped Peppermint Imps into Severus's food causing him to turn an attractive red color when Frank Longbottom, the Gryffindor prefect, came storming into the common room to tell them off about it. Afterwards, James and Peter were muttering because they couldn't understand who told Frank since a Slytherin would never talk to a Gryffindor when Sirius remembered who else had been standing around at the time: Fortuna. Sirius made up his mind to talk to her.

It was then that Lily and Jaime noticed that Remus was gone. Where was he?

~*~*~

Madam Pomfrey and Remus were in the Shrieking Shack. She was showing him what they were going to do every full moon. She had shown him the knot to push with a stick and now she was showing him all the rooms of the Shack. Remus noticed how she avoided his eyes. He had a sneaking suspicion that she was afraid of him.

"Headmaster Dumbledore put this furniture in here for you," she was explaining to him. "To make sure you're comfortable." Remus ran his hand over the soft material the couch was made of.

"He shouldn't have done that," he said softly. "I'll just rip it up." Madam Pomfrey glanced at him.

"So," she said, "Have you made any friends so far?" Remus shook his head. "And I don't plan on making any." Madam Pomfrey looked shocked.

"Well, why not?" she asked. Remus sighed. He never liked talking about his personal life. "Because they'll just find out about me and then they'll hate me."

"Well, if they stop being your friends just for something like that, then they weren't good friends in the first place." Remus glanced angrily at her. She just didn't understand. She'd never experienced the pain of moving from place to place and making friends who would later chase him out of town, throwing rocks and calling him 'monster' and 'Satan worshipper.'

"Well, my father told me it wouldn't be a good idea to make friends anyway." He said. Madam Pomfrey looked at him with a strange expression on her face. Was it pity?

"Listen, Remus," she said softly, "everyone needs friends. You can't just go through life without any, it will destroy you." She walked over to him and cupped his face in her hands, making him look at her. "Promise me you'll try to make some." Remus' only answer was to jerk away from her and head for the door. Madam Pomfrey followed sadly behind him. She sighed as they came out of the tunnel.

We'll have to make a run for the school, she thought to herself as she saw the storm clouds and the pouring rain.