Barking (Moony)
“So how far along did you get with the map the other night?” Remus asked as the four boys collected their things the next morning, preparing to go down to breakfast before classes. He was jamming quills and parchment into his school bag.
“Added a staircase,” answered James, “Then we were interrupted by Dumbledore and decided on coming back to the common room.”
Remus paused, a chill running through him. “By Dumbledore?” he asked, nerves prickling just under his skin, “What on earth was Dumbledore doing up at that hour?” Remus tried to chuckle, but he couldn't quite force it out.
Sirius watched Remus closely, stuffing his own school bag with supplies.
“Beats me,” James answered, “We were in a cupboard, hiding. Couldn't see or hear a thing from in there.”
Remus breathed a sigh of relief. He knew perfectly well, of course, what Dumbledore had been up to and for a fleeting moment he'd feared that his cover had been blown. He snatched his wand from the nightstand.
“Well,” Sirius said, keeping his eyes very carefully adverted from Remus's, “I wasn't in the cupboard myself.”
“That's right,” James said, turning as he looped the knot of his trainers, “Forgot you didn't make it in there. Did you overhear anything?”
Remus's stomach had flipped right over several times.
Sirius looked up and met Remus's eyes for a tense moment. “Not a thing.” He shrugged. “Maybe Dumbledore was just out for a nice walk. In the moonlight.”
Remus felt sick.
“We're going to be late,” Peter advised. He was standing on the stairwell landing just outside the door.
“We're coming, we're coming,” James exclaimed, jumping up and rushing out the door as he slung his bag's strap over his head.
Sirius turned, breaking his eye contact with Remus, and hurried after James, jumping up onto the banister and riding it down to beat him to the bottom. Remus moved slowly, stiffly, his stomach knotted up. “You alright?” Peter asked, “You look pale?”
“Just ducky,” Remus replied.
Did Sirius know? he wondered, or was he messing around with his head? He didn't know how to confirm what Sirius did and did not know without outright asking him and he was afraid to outright ask because, should Sirius not know, asking him would be a sure way to help him along in figuring it out. But why else would he have made such pointed eye contact? Or said the bit about walking in the moonlight for that matter?
Remus was very uneasy and jumpy as a result, which was why he was quite startled when a second year Slytherin girl rapped him on the shoulder during breakfast and jabbed an envelope into his face. “From Professor Slughorn,” she said shortly before leaving without any further explanation.
“What's that?” James asked around a mouth full of french toast dripping with jam and butter.
“Dunno,” Remus replied, ripping it open. He glanced down the table to see Lily was being handed another, identical, envelope by the same Slytherin girl. “Must be something about the Slug Club,” he said dismally.
Sure enough, inside was an invitation to a Christmas party in Professor Slughorn's office, scheduled for the next month, just before the holidays. The invitation described a social atmosphere, to which he was entitled to bring along a guest. He sighed and tucked the envelope and card into his school bag, “Apparently there's going to be a Christmas party and I can bring someone along.”
The other three boys exchanged glances and James quickly put down his fork. “Who're you gonna bring?”
“Trust me, none of you want to go,” Remus said.
“I've never been to a Christmas party,” Sirius commented. “Mother thinks Christmas is a Muggle holiday.”
“Well, really, it is,” James pointed out. “But it's a fun one.” He turned back to Remus. “I heard Gwen Jones has contact with some league Quidditch teams,” he said. “You could really be helping my future career as a Quidditch champion if you bring me along and I could meet her. You said she goes to these things, didn't you?”
Peter started poking at his pudding. “I'd like to go, but you're going to bring one of them,” he said, nodding at James and Sirius.
Remus held up his palms, “Oi. I don't know who I'm going to bring. I've got a whole month to choose. I may not even go at all,” he added, glancing at the dates again and mentally counting through the moon's cycle. But the date would definitely not be interfered with that way. “They're really dull,” he said as explanation for his lack of commitment to the party.
“You'd have to be barking to miss a party, though, right?” Sirius said, a little smirk playing his face.
Remus looked away and said, to his breakfast as much as to Sirius, “Right. Barking.” He shoved a spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth quickly as a distraction.
All through classes, Remus worried, stealing peeks over at Sirius, wondering what he should do. He wished Dumbledore had given him a better answer to the whole what do I tell my friends dilemma because he could really have used an excellent excuse about now. Part of him wanted to bring it up himself and divert Sirius's attention by laughing it off, but he wasn't sure he could trust himself to laugh convincingly once Sirius said the words. The only thing that kept him from being positive about whether Sirius knew or not was the fact that, if he did know, then Sirius wasn't bothered by the knowledge that one of his best mates was a werewolf. One would expect that to be a rather jarring thing to learn about a friend.
In flying lessons, Madam Hooch treated them to a surprise for one of their last basic lessons, pairing the lot off into groups of two to toss a ball back and forth to practice dexterity and quick steering. Before James could ask him, or Remus could ask someone else, Sirius called, “Hey. Remus. Pair up, shall we?”
Remus nodded, having expected it a bit, “Alright.”
James looked surprised, though, not to mention a bit less than pleased with being left to pair up with Peter, but Lily had already turned to Severus Snape, who was glowering at James over Lily's turned shoulder. Peter was better than having to work with a Slytherin, he supposed, though only just.
“So,” Sirius said, as Remus followed him across the pitch to the pile of brooms. “How've you been? Feels like we haven't really much time to talk, me and you, since you came back.”
“Been okay,” Remus answered. “Yourself?”
“Alright,” Sirius replied, nodding. He lifted a broom up and inspected it carefully as Remus sifted through a small stack of them for one that wasn't rubbish. “Can't believe it's almost Christmas already,” he mused, flinging the broom over one shoulder, like a miner carrying his pick axe. “You staying here or going home for the holidays?”
Remus had been thinking on the options for some time. “Probably staying here,” he answered.
“Been home enough already this term, 'ey?” Sirius questioned.
Remus shrugged. “How about you? Going home?”
“Probably.” Sirius shrugged. “Would be nice to see my brother at least. Don't know how Mother's going to react, though; still haven't heard from her since I've been sorted Gryffindor.”
Remus was thankful that whatever problems he might face in his life, at least the acceptance of his mum had never been something that he had to question. She'd always embraced him fully, despite the fact that he turned into a literal monster once a month. He couldn't imagine how unsteadying and awful it would be to be always on tenterhooks for approval from parents, as Sirius Black seemed to be. He pitied Sirius for that, really.
They walked back off down the pitch, carrying their brooms and the ball Madam Hooch had given them to play with. Sirius said, “You know. Whatever's going on back home that you keep having to leave for… You can tell me about it if you need to talk to somebody. I'm really good at keeping secrets.” He looked at Remus steadily for a moment. “You can trust me.”
“I know,” Remus answered.
“I'm serious,” Sirius said. “And not just because my name is similar to serious.” He grinned reassuringly and held out Madam Hooch's ball. “Friends are for confiding.”
“I'll keep it in mind,” Remus answered, taking the ball.
“Alright,” Sirius said.
An hour later and the First Years arms and brooms were all tired and they marched off back up to the castle. James had thought it unfair at first that he'd been paired off with Peter for the activity but it had turned out to be quite the opportunity to show off his flying skills as Peter's aim turned out to be absolutely abysmal and James had been forced to dart all over the pitch in an effort to catch the ball each time. Remus was thankful that Sirius was quickly distracted listening to James recap some of his more exciting catches as they walked back up to the castle, but he had a feeling he hadn't heard the end of the questions and still wasn't sure if he thought Sirius knew about his condition or not.
