Sanctuary

Chapter 94

Friday, 15th June 1973

Remus' brilliant idea to "do something fun" resulted in a brainstorming session, which inevitably led to a plan to play one last joke on the unsuspecting population of Hogwarts before everyone went home for the summer, and that had brought them to the library to search for the spells they needed to pull it off. Admittedly, five hours had passed since the original idea, which was much longer than they'd thought it would take, but they were finally ready to start. And despite the looming full moon, there was plenty of time left to do it, but Peter disagreed, apparently.

'The moon rises in less than an hour. I just think it's too late. You should leave it to us and go to the Shack.'

Remus tried very hard not to get annoyed by Peter's over-protectiveness. He just didn't understand how effective his potion was. That was all. There really wasn't anything to worry about. He felt amazing. Invincible even. Nothing would go wrong. Nothing could go wrong. They were the Marauders, and the Marauders always succeeded.

'It was my idea. You're not leaving me out,' Remus told him. 'And I feel great, anyway. I could run to the Whomping Willow if I have to. Which I won't because we have plenty of time.'

'Remus knows best what he can manage,' James said, interrupting the argument. 'You're being a bit controlling, Bubbles.'

Sirius nodded. 'And we're just wasting more time by sitting here arguing about it.'

'Fine,' Peter said, holding his hands up in surrender. 'But at least give Slytherin to Remus. It's closest to the entrance.'

'That works for me,' Remus said, grinning at his triumph.

'You can do Hufflepuff, then, Bubbles,' James said. 'Twinkles can do Ravenclaw, and I'll fly around and do the windows of the Towers. We'll do Gryffindor on the way out.'

'Aye, aye, Sunshine,' Sirius said, giving him a mock salute.

Casting the spells on the entrance to Gryffindor Tower went well enough. They had to do it from under the cloak so the Fat Lady wouldn't see them, and it was awkward-Remus took an elbow to the ribs on three separate occasions-but they got it done and then they split up, Sirius breaking off from the main group at the top of the Grand Staircase to head to Ravenclaw, James leaving them at the Entrance Hall, and Remus and Peter travelling down to the subterranean level together before parting ways.

'Keep an eye on the time, yeah?' Peter said, before leaving.

Remus rolled his eyes. 'Of course. This isn't my first full moon, you know?'

'Yeah, I know. It's just...' Peter trailed off, looking at him with worried eyes. 'You seem a bit more reckless than usual.'

'I'm not being reckless. I just feel better than I normally do on a new moon. Your potion is amazing, Bubbles. You really have nothing to be worried about, I promise.'

Peter didn't sound entirely convinced when he said, 'Alright, let's get this done, then,' but Remus decided to ignore the tone of his voice and take his words at face value, tossing a wave over his shoulder as he walked away from him.

'I'll see you at the Shack in half an hour.'

It turned out to be more difficult to cast the necessary spell chain alone, not least because he kept being interrupted by Slytherins entering and leaving their common room. Luckily, his hearing was at its most sensitive and he had plenty of time to hide when he heard someone coming, so no one saw him. The interruptions cost him time, though, because each time they happened, he had to start over. The spells needed to be cast one after the other. Even a few seconds between them caused the whole thing to collapse and dissipate into the air. It was incredibly frustrating-didn't the Slytherins have anything better to do than wander the school on the last night of term?-but Remus was damned if he was going to give up and leave the Slytherins the only ones to not receive the Marauders going home gift to the school.