Harry Potter Oneshots

Uncovering a Secret (Remus Lupin)

I watch as Lily rummages through her things, seemingly frustrated at whatever she's looking for. She throws a scarf down on the ground and looks to me. "I know I left it in this trunk!"

I lean forward on my bed and play with a lock of my hair, which is still a mess from bed. "Sure you did, Lil."

"I swear on Merlin's bloody beard that it was in here," she says, more to herself than me. She slides down to the floor and checks under her bed.

"What are you even looking for?" I ask. I peek out the window; it's gotten darker if possible. Lily had busted in here, only a few minutes before curfew I might add, and begun rummaging through her things.

"My Potions book," she says. "I need it otherwise I'll fail and Slughorn will hate me and I won't be able to take N.E.W.T. level Potions — "

"Shut up, Lily," Alice mumbles. She turns over in bed to give the nastiest look I've seen to date. "You're not going to fail so why don't you just go to bed?"

I sigh and stand up. "I'll help you look."

We look around for a bit until Lily snaps her fingers. "It might be in the Common Room!"

She sprints downstairs before I can say anything and I sigh. I look around the room and Alice is already asleep, as is Dorcas.

I find my eyes drawn to the window and I move closer, smiling softly when I recognize the full moon. It was so beautiful, so enchanting, so whole.

My eyes trail downward and I notice two figures scurrying along to the Whomping Willow. One figure seems to be being pulled along by the other and the wider figure only lets go to tap something at the base of the tree. To my shock, it stops moving and the wider figure releases the other one and suddenly there's only one figure. The wider figure hurries back to the castle.

I blink. What is going on? Just when I'm about to turn away from the window, I see another three figures following that same route. They seem like they're more in a rush than the first two, and it can only be assumed that they were probably not supposed to be there.

"Found it!" The sound of her voice makes me jump and I turn to see her Potions book in hand. She grins like an escapee from St. Mungo's. "It was under the sofa!"

I sigh and offer a small smile. "That's wonderful, Lil, but can we please go to bed now?"

She grins and nods. What is so wrong with this geek that finding a textbook made her giddy with joy? It's a wonder Potter was even interested in her.

My brows furrow with some unrecognized thought pattern, but I disregard it. Before clambering into bed, I look back out the window idly to see if the figures were still sneaking along. To my confusion, they were gone.

I narrow my eyes at where they'd just disappeared. Either I'm more tired than I thought or there was another secret in Hogwarts.

*********************

Every time the Marauders enter a room, the atmosphere changes.

It could be something as small as everyone sitting up a tad straighter. It could be the sly glances the females in the room would send them. It could be the idle maneuvering of feet to get closer to them, perhaps subconsciously. It could be anything, but it was consistent and always noticeable if you know what you're looking for.