Marauding at Hogwarts

The Problem with Lycanthropy

In 1971 four 10 year old boys entered their first year at Hogwarts. All four boys were Gryffindors and as luck would have it, they were assigned the same dorm room. The eldest of the boys was Sirius Black. Sirius grew up in a family that was predominately of the Slytherin house. This was the cause of most of his anxieties in his first year. Lucky for him the second eldest, James Potter gave him plenty of distraction. James Potter was a messy boy, who hated wearing shoes, and could talk a mile a minute. In anyone else this quality would be annoying, but James had a knack for talking about things the listener found interesting. The third was Remus Lupin. Remus was a quiet boy when he needed to be but was disorderly otherwise. This suited them spectacularly. The last, but certainly not least was Peter Pettigrew. Peter was a quiet boy all the time (which was perfect because four rowdy boys might have been a bit much.) He had a knack for blowing things up, which would never fail to send the older three into a fit of laughter.

This was the most curious thing for Remus who always tried to be logical. How could four people fit so perfectly together? They had so easily become friends. By the end of their first night they were as thick as thieves. For reasons beyond logic they had remained friends for three years, three months, and 21 days.

He had this epiphany while sitting in the common room"studying" for an upcoming transfigurations test. In reality, he was watching his friends play chess. Peter sat cross-legged on the floor, rooting for both sides. James let out a violent grunt after Sirius destroyed his last knight resulting in a victorious "whoop!" from the latter. Remus was about to give James an excellent piece of advice when a disgruntled sounding female interrupted him.

"Elsfir Mikalov and his sadistic lycanthropy study!" yelled the girl. She was sitting in the corner of the common room, yelling at her friend. He recognised the second as Josephine Archer. "Read my summary, you'll see. It's only the first chapter too."

Josephine grabbed the parchment in front of her friend and read as she was asked. Her eyes narrowed as she seemed to go over what was written once more.

"I'm not seeing the sadistic part." She said cautiously. "It's depressing, yeah, but I'm not seeing the sadistic part."

"That's because I'm not a sadist!" The other defended, snatching her parchment back from her friend. She grabbed the book again tearing through the pages. "Look he says stuff like 'this is the fingerprint of God.' 'it's so cruel it's perfect.'" She made a gagging noise and threw the book back onto the table as if it had caught fire.

"What are you doing anyway? We're only on grindylows, we won't start werewolves until next term." Josephine asked trying to change the subject.

Remus didn't bother to listen to the rest of their conversation. His head echoed with Josephine Archer's voice 'we won't start werewolves until next term.'

The time had come, as he knew it would when his friends would learn of his condition. At least he had time to prepare. He had until after Christmas to prepare himself mentally for the things they would say. He'd eventually get expelled, under obligation, of course. The other parents won't want their children going to school with him once they found out. He'd have to warn his parents. I'll wait until the holiday. He decided. There's no need to worry them. They'd have to move again. They've actually lived at that place for three years, three months, and 21 days.

"What are you two going on about?" Peter yelled irritably, distracting Remus from his self-destructive monologue. Remus sunk down lower in his seat, Sirius climbed up next to him, peering over the back of the couch at the girls.

"Sorry mate." One of them said sounding ashamed.

"Sirius, does Radagast ever give Remus extra credit for when he's absent?" Josephine questioned, confirming that others had noticed his frequent absents. The question only aided in his increasing anxiety.