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The Moon Sign (Prongs)


Remus still had not returned next night, when the Gryffindors trooped up to the astronomy tower at midnight. Overhead hung the waning moon, filling the sky over Hogwarts castle and casting the blue-white glow that illuminated their telescopes and star charts. Professor Zosma walked between them, helping to adjust their scopes before beginning her lesson, skipping past Lily, whose scope was perfect already. James looked over at her, wondering if he ought to apologize for the way Sirius had snapped at her before, when she'd inquired about Remus. It seemed Lily had been extra quiet and distant from them since then and James didn't like that. He liked the rare times that Lily Evans spoke to him, and when she'd grabbed hold of his robes the day before, outside their Charms class, he'd felt a sort of spark that ran all up and down his arm.

“Tonight, we will be determining your moon signs and learning more about the lunar patterns discovered by Copernicus...” Zosma began, her voice only loud enough so that the four students could hear her. “The position of the moon can greatly tie into your personhood, into your identity… The moon is a very powerful, very strong celestial body… As Hermes Trismegistus said, 'as above, so below'...”

James peered into his telescope at the craters and marks all over the surface of the moon. “Think it's really made of swiss cheese?” he whispered to Sirius.

“Looks more like Snivelly Snape's acne to me,” Sirius whispered back.

James chuckled lightly, glancing at Lily to make sure she hadn't heard the comment before he did.

“...effects our energetic make-up, our personal selves can be identified by our moon signs, just as our more public selves are evident in the sun signs...” Zosma was going on, her voice fading in and out as she walked one end of the tower to the other behind the students.

“You think the muggles really got to the moon?” Sirius asked, adjusting his scope.

“Dad says it was with the help of wizards,” replied James.

“Break into pairs and, using the time of your birth, we will calculate your moon signs and chart them on your personal star charts. For homework, you will write a foot on the comparison of your moon sign and your sun sign, describing in detail why, or why not, you believe the signs fit your personality.”

Sirius rolled his eyes, “Rubbish. Homework.”

“Peter,” called Lily, “Come work with me.”

Peter looked for a moment at Sirius and James, but they'd already broken off themselves and he frowned, reminded again that he was the third wheel in the group. He went and sat down with Lily.

James sat down in a little patch of light under a torch glowing near to the door that led back into the castle. He pulled his star chart onto his lap and started going through the list of signs for his birthday as Sirius settled in beside him and started doing the same. “Looks like I'm a double Aries,” he laughed, “Will be easy to compare for the homework at least. Says I'm impatient.” He looked over at Sirius. “What's yours, mate?”

“Sagittarius,” Sirius said. “I'm alert and open. Impulsive.”

James was staring down at Sirius's parchment. “You're looking at today's chart,” he said, “You got to look at your birthday.”

“I am looking at my birthday,” Sirius replied, his face reddening.

“OI! Today's been your birthday, then?” James demanded, eyes wide, “Why didn't you tell us? I would've asked Bilius to knick you a cake from the kitchens or something! We would've skivved off classes and done something fun, you prat!”

Sirius shrugged, “Never much done anything for my birthday, really,” he said, “It's not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” James gasped. “Of course it's a big deal. It's the day you was born, innit? You can't just ignore that, it's special!”

“Not in the Black family,” replied Sirius, “We never celebrate birthdays.”

“Well blimey,” said James, shaking his head, “We're celebrating it now.”

“Now it's over,” Sirius answered.

“Bugger on that,” James replied, “We'll celebrate it a day late this year is all.” He shook his head, “Not telling me your birthday; and you dare call me your friend.”

Sirius laughed. “So when is yours, then, if it's so important?”

“27 March,” answered James. “Wonder when Remus's is,” he said, running his finger across the book. “Would be interesting to know all our moon signs, wouldn't it? Wonder if we could guess by the description?”

The two boys spent the rest of the class laughing and making up reasons why different signs fit Remus Lupin, trying to guess his birthday from the signs, while Peter and Lily worked dutifully on their own charts across the rooftop from Sirius and James. When Zosma finally let them off from class, she led them back down through the castle to the Gryffindor common room and deposited them outside the portrait hole.

“Well tonight was interesting,” James said. He glanced at Lily, “What'd your moon sign say?” he asked, trying to be friendly.

Lily replied shortly, “Pisces. Good night.” With that, she trotted on up the steps into the girl's dormitories.

Peter offered, “Mine was Taurus.”

But Sirius and James were already headed up the steps and Peter had to scramble to follow after them. “What were yours?” he asked as he caught up, eager to get them to talk with him again.

“Aries,” James replied boredly. “Found out that today was Sirius's birthday, though. Still can't believe you never told us,” he added.

“I'm Sagittarius and I told you, we don't make a big fuss on it, I didn't think it mattered much,” Sirius said as they were approaching the landing of the first years dorms.

“My mum makes a big deal of my birthday,” said Peter. “Every year.”

“See, even Peter knows birthdays are important,” James said to Sirius. They pushed open the door to their room and stepped inside.

There, in his bed and already asleep, was Remus.

Sirius stopped and the boys crowded around Remus's bed. He was fast asleep, in that exhausted sort of way that one sleeps when they have had a very, very long day, still in his clothes, though they looked dirty and there was a rip in the knee of his slacks. “He's back,” Sirius said.

“Too bad he missed tonight,” Peter said, “That was a very interesting class.”

“Yeah,” Sirius said.

James grinned, “At least he'll get to join in the fun tomorrow, when we celebrate your birthday.”

Sirius smiled, though he continued to stare at Remus's sleeping form as the other boys changed out of their robes and into their pyjamas. He was curled up, his nose nearly touching his knees. Remus twitched as a cloud shifted outside and a beam of moonlight crept through the room, across his sleeping face. His hand moved up and swept over his cheek and the combination of the way he was curled and the way he pawed at his face like that, Sirius was reminded of a dog… and then something was blossoming in Sirius's mind, something he couldn't quite put a finger on, some sort of understanding or idea beginning to form, something he wasn't sure he dare voice aloud. He looked 'round at the other two finally, and Peter was already tucking himself in as James poured a glass of water from the pitcher by the door. Sirius took one last look at Remus and moved for his own pyjamas, feeling a bit dazed as the idea coursed through him, facts falling into place like puzzle pieces...

But he couldn't be right… could he?

“So Lily's a Pisces,” James said, the water having reminded him of fish, which had reminded him in turn of Lily's moon sign. He thought about what they'd learned about Pisces in the class they'd done on the sun signs and nodded to himself. It made sense that Lily would be a moon-Pisces. For a fleeting moment, he wished they'd been assigned to compare the signs of others to their personalities because he felt he could write a mile on Lily's attributes. James climbed into bed and stared up at the coverings of his bed, snuggling down into the pillows and the blankets. “Do you think the sun and moon really can tell us a lot about ourselves and other people like Zosma says?” he asked.

“As much as anything else can,” replied Peter.

“I think the moon could maybe tell us a lot about a person,” mumbled Sirius, staring over at Remus in the darkness.