Sanctuary

Chapter 19

Tuesday, 5th October 1971, 4:30 pm

Remus left the hospital wing and headed straight for Gryffindor tower. He was still a little sore from his transformation, but there was no way he was going to admit that to Madam Pomfrey. Knowing her, she would keep him in for an extra night, and he wanted to see his friends too much for that. He had information they needed to know.

Before leaving, though, he had asked her about the mystery of his full-moon symptoms starting so much earlier than normal, and she had put it down to how much he was using his magic every day. It was nice to have an answer, but, on this occasion, he hoped she was wrong. If she was right, it meant three full days of pain every month instead of one. Although, when he really thought about it, he had to admit, if he were forced to choose between Hogwarts and less pain, he would choose Hogwarts. Even if it meant pain all day every day, he would choose Hogwarts.

He clambered through the portrait hole, dashed across the common room (as much as he could dash with his aching joints, other people would probably call it a meander), and up the stairs to the dorm.

He burst into the room with an excited, 'Guys, I've figured it out!' kicking the door closed behind him, crossing the room and dropping his bag on his bed.

'Figured what out?' James asked, leaping off his bed and jumping around, apparently caught up in the excitement.

'Hello, Remus. And how are you feeling?' Sirius asked from where he was lounging on his bed and writing in his journal.

Remus turned to face Sirius. 'I'm all better now, thank you. Nothing to worry about.' He turned back to James, who was still bouncing on his toes waiting for the news. 'I've figured out how to make everyone burp bubbles.'

'Yes!' James punched the air. 'You are the best researcher a team of magical mischief-makers could ever ask for! How do we do it?'

Remus smiled. He had been hoping the news would be sufficient distraction to keep them from asking questions about his hospital stay. It looked like it was working.

'The belch powder uses delayed transfiguration, like on the robes the Marauder did. So all we have to do is add an extra layer and set it to be triggered two seconds after the first layer.'

'And you know how to do that?' Peter asked.

'Yes, it's really easy. I can show you.'

Sirius closed his journal and placed it gently on the bed next to him, stood up in a single, graceful movement and sauntered over to him. 'Hmm,' he said, looking Remus right in the eyes. 'I think I know your secret.'

Remus' blood went cold.

-o-o-o-o-

'Hmm, I think I know your secret.'

Remus' face went white. Shit. That was an epically piss-poor choice of words. Sirius hurried to finish before Remus did something ridiculously stupid, like outing himself by shouting, "I'm not a werewolf."

'You're the Hogwarts Marauder,' he said, pointing at him.

'What?' James said.

Sirius turned to James to explain his theory. And to take the attention off of Remus, who seemed to be struggling to catch his breath. 'He has regular access to the laundry,' he said, ticking each point off on his fingers. 'He has apparently used delayed transfiguration before because he knows it's "easy." And he somehow knows the Marauder used delayed transfiguration to do the robe trick. He is amazingly good at transfiguration, as if he's had lots of extra practice. And I'm pretty sure he was lying when he said he'd never altered a spell before. Therefore, I conclude, he is the Marauder.'