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“What do you think really is wrong with Remus, anyway?” James asked that night as the boys were all getting ready for bed.

Sirius shrugged, “Cauldron Pox, maybe.” He grinned as James laughed and dug his pajamas out of his trunk.

“Those are contagious,” squeaked Peter with wide eyes.

“Which is why he’s in the hospital wing,” said Sirius. He crawled under the covers of his bed and kicked his legs to loosen the sheets around his feet as Peter shook his head and got into his bed, looking warily in the direction of Remus’s.

“It’s not Cauldron Pox,” James said. He tugged his pajama top on over his head. “Why do you think Lily wanted to know about Remus?” he asked, voice muffled as he struggled through the neck hole.

Sirius glanced at Peter with a smirk. “Maybe she likes him,” he suggested.

Peter frowned.

James finally got the top on and turned to look at Sirius. “What? Lily likes Remus?” His hair was even messier than usual. “Who said that? Did she say that?”

Sirius’s smirk grew. “Dunno,” he said, “Just - I heard it is all.” The edge of his mouth twitched with amusement.

“Well good for Lupin then.” James’s tone gave away his jealousy. He got into bed and made a job of fixing the blanket ‘round him.

“Actually,” Peter spoke up, punching his pillow into shape, “Lily said he isn’t the one that she fancies.”

Sirius and James both looked at Peter in surprise. “When did Lily Evans talk to you?” Sirius demanded.

Peter shrugged as he snuggled into his blankets. “At dinner,” he replied. “We’ve had a few long talks before, too, while you weren’t paying attention.”

James fidgeted. “Right. So I suppose she told you who she does fancy, then?” he asked hotly.

Sirius’s eyes flashed between the two of them.

Peter shrugged again, and moved even deeper into his blankets and rolled over.

Sirius and James looked at one another. “Are you saying she fancies you?” Sirius scoffed as James scowled. Sirius in no way believed Peter, but he found the whole interaction hilarious. He wondered how James could possibly believe that Lily liked Peter for even a moment. Peter, who couldn’t fly a broomstick to save his life, whose marks were the lowest in the entire first year. James was just blinded by his own fancy, and the funny part was that James had no idea how smitten he was…



Next day at lunch, the boys agreed to go up to the hospital wing and visit Remus after Herbology. When they’d finished going over various plants and fungi with Professor Viridi, they ran back up to the castle and through the halls to the hospital wing. All the way, Peter second-guessed their choice to visit their ill comrade. “What if he’s got Cauldron Pox, for real?” Peter questioned.

“Then I guess you’d better get ready for oozing boils all over your face, huh?” Sirius laughed, leading the way along the corridor.

Peter didn’t look amused at all. “Cauldron Pox is not a laughing matter,” he argued. “Haven’t you ever seen’em? My gran had’em once; she was covered in boils, so much you couldn’t hardly recognize her!”

James rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Peter? Are you a Gryffindor or not? You’re acting like a bloody Hufflepuff.” He and Sirius high-fived one another.

Peter scowled. “If you’re calling me a coward because I’m nervous about catching Cauldron Pox, then you don’t obviously don’t understand how contagious --” Peter stopped talking mid-sentence, though, for they’d arrived at the hospital wing and Sirius had led the way quite boldly inside.

Madam Pomfrey was measuring out a potion that smelled sour and terrible. She looked up as the boys walked into the room. At the far end of the wing was a moaning Ravenclaw third year who’d fallen from his broomstick during Quidditch practice on the pitch. Other than him, the wing was empty.

“No visitors!” Madam Pomfrey announced. “Mr. Turin has a knee cap to regrow, he needn’t be bothered right now. Out with the lot of you.”

Peter started to scurry off at once, but Sirius said, “Actually, we’re not here to visit Turin. We’re here to see Remus Lupin. Can we see him?”

“Remus Lupin?” Madam Pomfrey looked confused. “I haven’t seen Remus Lupin. Now out, you. Go.” She shooed the boys into the hall roughly and shut the door behind them.

James and Sirius exchanged looks once they were in the corridor. “He’s not in the hospital wing?” Sirius said, his eyebrows screwing up into a perplexed expression. “So where’s he been at then?”

“Dunno,” murmured James, looking puzzled.

Peter said, “Isn’t it obvious? I told you Cauldron Pox was dangerously contagious - they’ve obviously sent him off to St. Mungo’s.”

“We don’t know that he’s got Cauldron Pox,” James reminded Peter with exasperation. “We made that bit up, don’t you remember?”

“Besides, I’m sure that Madam Pomfrey can cure Cauldron Pox without sending students off to St. Mungos,” said Sirius.

“Maybe he had a family emergency,” James suggested. “You know, like a death in the family or something.”

“Perhaps,” mused Sirius. But he was less than convinced.

“Think he’ll come back?” Peter asked.

“Why not?” James asked.

“Well, he’s missed a lot of classes,” Peter pointed out.

Sirius shook his head. “He’s got good marks.”

Peter sounded miserable. “That’s true, I ‘spose. If it were me and I missed that many classes, I’d never catch up.”

“They’d just have you repeat the year is all,” Sirius said, still thinking on where else Remus could be.

“Or else they’d just officially declare you a squib,” James taunted.

Peter scrambled to keep up. “I’m not a squib,” he argued.

James laughed.

They walked on up to Gryffindor tower to complete their homework that was due in astronomy, though Sirius wasn’t really able to concentrate on any of the charts and books… He was too busy trying to figure out what was going on with Remus.



It continued to bother Sirius what was going on with Remus. The most curious part that Sirius just couldn't get over was the fact that none of the teachers seemed to either notice nor care where Remus was at. Sure, Binns barely noticed any of the students were there at all, ever, but Flitwick was much more attentive and he hadn't said a word during their Charms class that morning. As they made their way up to Transfiguration, Sirius thought for sure that something would finally be said about Remus missing, but even Professor McGonagall didn't say a word about his absence.

Sirius decided it was time to find out what was going on. He raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Black?" McGonagall asked.

"Do you happen to know where Remus is?" he asked, then added a quick, "M'am," to the end. He stared up at her hopefully.

Professor McGonagall's stern eyes peered down at Sirius as she stood before him at the desk. "Does Mr. Lupin's location somehow effect your ability to transfigure that pin cushion into a porcupine?" she asked.

"Well," Sirius hesitated, "No, professor, but -"

"Then it does not matter at this time, does it?" she asked rhetorically with a tone of finality.

Lily was frowning down the table over Remus's empty seat. When Professor McGonagall turned back to her chalkboard, she leaned over and hissed, "I thought you guys said Remus was in the hospital wing?"

James looked over at her and said, "I thought you didn't fancy him?"

McGonagall cleared her throat. "The speaking I overhear better be a discussion about the task at hand."

Lily frowned, then grabbed hold of her pin cushion and waved her wand. "Ericius factus!" And suddenly before her sat a quivering porcupine.

"Bloody hell," Peter murmured, glancing over. "How'd you do that?" He was awed.

McGonagall turned around. "Oh very good, Miss. Evans! Ten points to Gryffindor."

"I don't fancy Remus," whispered Lily as Professor McGonagall inspected the porcupine proudly. "I'm just curious."

"Well be curious some place else," James replied, and he grabbed his own wand, trying desperately to turn his pin cushion into a porcupine as well, but all he could seem to do was make his pin cushion turn brown.