The Marauders: Year One | #Wattys2016

The Full Moon

James's laughing potion lasted until the boys were heading out of the castle for their Herbology class in the greenhouses across the grounds. They were at the door of the entrance hall, Peter already two steps outside, when Professor McGonagall called Remus back. "Mr. Lupin!" she called out. The boys all stopped, but Remus waved the other three on and turned back to see what it was that Professor McGonagall wanted. She approached swiftly and said, "Professor Dumbledore has requested a moment to speak with you in his office before you go to your next class. He says that it is most urgent."

Remus nodded and followed Professor McGonagall upstairs and down several twisting corridors until they reached the stone gargoyles where he'd met the headmaster earlier in the week. "Drooble's Best Blowing Gum!" said Professor McGonagall in a ringing voice and the gargoyle leaped away to reveal a stone doorway with a spiraling staircase beyond. "Up you go, Mr. Lupin," McGonagall said, shooing him in the doorway. "Just knock when you get to the top and the headmaster will let you in."

"You aren't coming with me?" Remus asked as he stepped inside.

"Professor Dumbledore has requested a private word," she explained and she stepped back and the stone gargoyle jumped back in front of the doorway.

Remus looked up the spiraling staircase. It seemed to go on forever. It seemed an awfully long way up for an old man like Dumbledore to be climbing so many stairs. But the moment Remus took a step onto the stairwell he discovered that it magically came to life and the stairs began to move upward, carrying him without a single mite of effort from his part. He just stared up, watching the landing far above him slowly come closer and closer... At the very top, he stepped off onto a landing and the stairs ground to a halt behind him.

There wasn't much to the landing. There was a big wooden door before him, with a welcome mat on the stone floor just outside of it and a purple umbrella with golden stars all over it leaned against the wall beside a pair of lemon yellow galoshes. Remus walked up to the door and hesitated, then raised his fist, which seemed comparably tiny, and knocked on the door.

For a moment, nothing but silence followed the echoing sound of the knock, and Remus had raised his fist up to knock again when the door was flung open wide to reveal Album Dumbledore. "Welcome," Dumbledore greeted him, ushering him inside.

The office was brightly lit by the afternoon sunlight coming in through the window, giving it that warm, comfortable feeling. A gold and red plumed bird sat on a stand by the window - a phoenix, Remus recognized it from his copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There was a heavy mahogany desk and behind it a wall full of portraits of old headmasters with ornate frames and tiny brass plates that read their names and the dates of their appointment at Hogwarts. Dumbledore smiled benignly, giving Remus a few minutes to inspect some silver instruments lining the bookshelves and then he said, "Tonight is the night of the full moon."

Remus looked around at him in surprise. He hadn't ever forgotten the night of the full moon before, but he'd been so caught up in his new friends and classes that he had this time. He looked at Dumbledore in surprise.

"I understand," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling, "There are so many new things to experience that the time has snuck upon you. I must ask you to go to the shrieking shack for the safety of your new friends, though, Remus, and return once you've recovered from the change. I've had some of the house elves deliver your dinner to the shack." He sat down in a heavy chair behind the desk, motioning for Remus to sit in the chairs opposite him. Remus sat. "I am very sorry that the cycle is this close to the beginning of the school year, but I've sent a note to Professor Viridi letting her know that it is I who have kept you from your first Herbology class so that you are excused and I'm afraid you may miss your first Defense Against the Dark Arts as well... but if you do, I shall inform Professor Tutman as well."