Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Forty-Five- The Stolen Letter

TW: Mentions of Abuse

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Time passed and James' party planning became more concrete. It was going to be a loud and exhausting event. Remus was a little sad he wasn't going to be missing it since the full moon was five days prior. Of course, James would kill him if he didn't come, so he figured it was probably for the best.

Things were pretty uneventful as far as classes and his friends, although Sirius still seemed to be treating him just a bit cooler than usual which was confusing. Remus also spent more time with Lily and Severus, who after much convincing had begrudgingly "forgiven" Remus, if only so Lily would stop pestering him about it.

Then, of course, there were the trips to the kitchen and trips to Honeydukes, which always resulted in holding Sirius back from exploring more of Hogsmeade. There was also DADA where he seemed to get called on more than usual, and Potions which was bearable now that James and Sirius took turns helping him, and lastly there was flying which Remus had come to dread.

Everyone else was thrilled when their old professor, who hardly let them do anything on a broom, took maternity leave and was replaced by a very young professor, whose eager smile was followed by danger as often as Sirius', and who let the class run free. What used to be a boring class on the mechanics of brooms, the history of quidditch, and any other topics their old professor had used to keep them on the ground rather than in the air, was now just flying.

"This is the beeeeest!" shouted James, who true to his bragging, kept on demonstrating a real talent for flying. Sirius was nearly as good as him, and now that they could just fly around they spent the class showing off and trying to one-up each other. It wasn't until Sirius nearly fell from his broom that their new professor even warned them to be careful.

But other than the difficulty of flying, a relatively small matter, Remus was feeling pretty great. His worries about Greyback being at Hogwarts now seemed silly and the issue of Professor Blavatnik hiding and mistreating some poor werewolf ended when Dumbledore had a talk with him and made him release Silverstream back into the Forbidden Forest.

Even when Remus' birthday came and went, he had no complaints. In fact, he was quite relieved none of his friends knew and only mildly disappointed when he got no letter from his father. He wasn't even worried about this month's full moon because he had gotten used to the Shrieking Shack. While the thought people could hear him still repulsed him, he had finally relaxed in the knowledge that no one would somehow get in.

Things really seemed to be going fairly well, until he actually did get a letter at breakfast. A great large barn owl swooped down and dropped a plain envelope in front of Remus. He stared at it, not really thinking anything of it and attempted to hand it to Peter, sure there must have been a mistake.

James stopped tearing into his own weekly letter from his parents and gaped, "Remus, it has your name on it."

James pulled it back towards him, Peter hadn't even attempted to read it since he just got a letter of his own from his mum two days prior. Sirius also looked up from his letter from Regulus, who had begun writing him again.

"Really? Who's it from?" Sirius asked, barely audible from a piece of toast in his mouth. Sirius had a habit of talking with food in his mouth, apparently a habit he developed just to annoy his parents. So they had all gotten quite good at deciphering what he meant, even if all they really heard was refff? Whoem ish ferm?

"It doesn't say," Remus responded, carefully opening the letter. He knew it was too much to expect his father to write. He'd be lucky if his father even let him stay at the house after the several letters that had been sent to him concerning Remus' coma and detentions. He read it through once, then once more feeling sick. He must have gone pale because they were all staring at him, then before he could stop Sirius, the boy reached over and snatched it from his hands.