Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) Book Three (Marauders Era)

Chapter Eighty-One - The Cologne Calamity

Author's Note: CW emetophobia

*

It was strange adjusting back to everyone being in Hogwarts. All day Sunday, Remus felt crowded and itchy. He stuck close with the Marauders, except for the brief Hogsmeade visit. Sirius and Peter went into Hogsmeade while James and Remus stayed behind. The mirrors worked perfectly from that distance, and once that was confirmed James headed into Hogsmeade too. Remus stayed in the dorm, going over his friends' homework and fixing most of the mistakes.

The evening was spent trying to convince James and Sirius not to let the jarvey that had been found in Hogsmeade loose in the library, but they did anyway and the next morning there was a notice saying the library was temporarily closed for pest control.

"Not our fault," James said when Remus gave him a glare. "One jarvey is hardly a pest."

He was too tired to argue, and simply trudged on to Potions. It was a struggle to stay awake during the lesson, and even more so to try to get through the History lesson afterwards. He fell asleep during the free period and wound up missing Defense Against the Dark Arts, so he left a note in the dorm saying he had gotten a letter from his father saying his mother was very ill and he needed to go home for a few days; then he went to the hospital wing, hoping to sleep, however Madame Pomfrey took him to the house right away.

There he slept soundly until the late afternoon sunset. He woke up when he felt the pull, groggily trying to get his clothes off before the transformation. But it never came. He managed to get everything off and curled up in Peter's blanket in front of the fire, Sirius's dragon against his chest, shivering for a while until he fell asleep again.

The clouds covered the moon all night and when Pomfrey got him in the morning, she told him how relieved she was. Apparently, she had been worried because of the previous full moon. Remus blinked a few times before realizing what she meant. He had been too exhausted the previous day to even think about it, but that day whenever he was awake it was all he could think about. As morning turned into afternoon, he kept reaching down and rubbing the leg that had grown back, terrified he'd rip it off again that night.

But that night was another one of no transformations. As was the third. The entire thing had passed without any problem, which relieved him. He deserved it. A little break. Even though his bones ached from the lack of transformation and the wolf was agitated from being locked up.

The wolf made him rather grumpy too, and when he got ready to return to classes on Thursday he figured he'd have to work hard not to get snappy with anyone. He knew his patience was going to be put to the test when he left Arithmancy and found Sirius and Peter waiting for him, both with concerned expressions.

"Oh thank Merlin," Peter breathed out when Remus emerged from the door.

"What's going on?"

Sirius seized his arm. "Maybe you can talk some sense into him. And by talk some sense into him, I mean tell him it's awful."

"Awful," echoed Peter.

Remus was dragged along without anything else being said. He struggled against Sirius's hold. "What? James? Is it a prank he wants to do?"

"I wish it was a prank," Peter said. "It's worser."

"Not a prank," Sirius grumbled. "Unfortunately."

"What is going on? You need to tell me if you expect me to do anything about it." He finally wrenched free and planted his feet into the ground, folding his arms. "What did James do?"

Sirius and Peter exchanged looks. "Erm." Sirius raked his fingers through his hair. "Apparently, he decided that he should start wearing cologne."

"What's wrong with that?" Remus asked, since several boys in their year were wearing cologne as well. He personally hated it because some of them tended to drench themselves in it more than they should (and some girls did the same with perfume), and that bothered his nose... however it wasn't any of his business. He had dreaded the day the other Marauders might start wearing it; hopefully James wasn't dumping it all over himself.