Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) - Book One (Marauder Era)

Chapter Eighty-Five - Dumb Savage

By the time Thursday came Remus felt exhausted. It hadn't even been 48 hours since seeing Fawley however he had been on edge every single second. Every time Sirius spoke to him he felt a buzz of fear going through him. JUST TELL ME! he wanted to shout. WHY DID YOU LOOK AT ME WHEN YOU SAID THAT?!

He tried to be his usual self but all the fear plus the full moon coming up he was just plain exhausted. And going into History on Thursday seeing 1600 - 1699 with a list of highlights. 1637: Werewolf Code of Conduct did not help one bit. Remus shifted his gaze downwards as he took his seat. Slowly he took out his parchment, copying down the list. Werewolf code of conduct, he spelled out carefully, taking in a rather sharp breath before moving on to the next event. He was still writing when Binns began droning on. He sounded the same when he talked about the Goblin Rebellion of 1612 as he did when he mentioned Olga Sapling had been in 1624, as if both events were equally boring.

"The werewolf code of conduct," Binns said, "was formed in 1637 by the Wizards' Council in hopes to end the attacks the beasts inflicted on magical society. The code of conduct was an agreement the werewolves would sign promising they would lock themselves away during the full moons. This backfired as not a single werewolf signed the agreement. There is great debate over the reasons why. Some say the werewolves did not want to be outed as werewolves because of anti-werewolf feelings, some say they did not want to be outed in order to continue their murder sprees, while others insist it is because werewolves are dumb savages. In 1641 Edmund Flume first opened the doors to what has become the most popular sweets shop in Britain: Honeydukes..."

Remus underlined the words dumb savages with a rather violent jerk of his quill.

After an eternity the bell rang. Binns assigned some homework then drifted through the wall. Remus shoved everything in his bag, barely hearing his friends' chatter around him as they left the classroom. I need to bring it up somehow, he thought, chewing the inside of his mouth.

"Could Binns be any more boring?" James complained as they headed towards the Great Hall. "Blimey, a goblin rebellion sounds interesting. I'd like to know more about that."

"Then how about you crack open a book for once, Potter?" Lily asked, swinging her bag over her shoulder as she gave him a snooty look. Remus liked Lily but in that moment he despised her for cutting into what would have been a great opportunity to bring up werewolves.

James stuck his finger in his mouth, making loud gagging sounds. "Huuaeeeegggh! I'll just have Remy tell me about it."

Lily stomped her foot. "He's not your personal encyclopedia!"

James just gave her an innocent look in return. "What on earth's an encyclopedia?"

"That's a little bug that has a hundred feet that zip around," Sirius said.

"No, that's a centipede. An encyclopedia is a big monster that only has one eye," Peter said.

James grinned. "No, that's a cyclops. An encyclopedia is a big tunnel of wind that destroys everything."

"No, that's a cyclone," Sirius said. "An en--"

"You lot are absolutely barmy!" Lily snapped, flouncing ahead.

The other Marauders laughed then James apologized to Remus in case they upset him by upsetting Lily. Remus couldn't help but smile. "I'm just impressed you know what centipedes, cyclops, and cyclones are."

"We're not completely stupid, you know!" James protested as he threw an arm across Remus's shoulder. "Only mostly stupid."

The moment to bring it up had gone. Remus knew if he tried it would sound weird so he'd have to wait until later. He'd be able to wiggle it into a conversation somewhere, probably while lecturing them to do their homework. When I'm not friends with them anymore, will they ever do their homework at all? he wondered as they walked, James's arm still around him. He knew it wasn't really his problem, but he couldn't help but worry about that.