Up To No Good

Chapter Four

It was late morning when Remus did turn up again. James and Sirius were engrossed in a game of Wizard Chess, which was the same as Muggle chess except for the fact that the pieces were alive. James instructed his bishop to move where he wanted, but it kept arguing to the point where he thought it was hardly worth the effort; Sirius only found this amusing.

They looked up as Remus entered; he looked more tired than ever, and his eyes had dark circles under them. His hair was ruffled up more than usual.

"Where have you been?" James inquired as Remus collapsed onto his bed.

Remus picked up his bag and began to rummage through it. "I've been ill," he said.

"Hospital wing?" Sirius asked him.

"Yeah. Really bad headache." He clapped his hand to his forehead, groggily pulling out a small slip of paper out of his bag. "I'm going to see Dumbledore this afternoon."

"What? About your illness?" Sirius swept the chess board as the chess men grunted with displeasure.

"Yeah," Remus nodded. "Something like that." He set the piece of paper aside and buttoned up his bag, then began to dig for new clothes from the chest of drawers. "Well, that's what I thought. He's asked me to come see him."

James wondered what sort of situation would warrant a personal appointment with the Headmaster, much less with Dumbledore, who was easily one of the most known powerful wizards.

Peter Pettigrew slipped into the dormitory, strode across the room, and sat on his bed as if he had been part of the conversation all along. Remus sensed this and instead packed up his things.

"I'm going to go change," he said. "I'll see you two down at the feast for breakfast, I suppose."

James nodded, pushing his messy black hair out of his face and grabbing his glasses. He suddenly became aware of how hungry he was. Sirius shoved the Wizard Chess game into his trunk, which was overflowing with a hodgepodge of school supplies, and they both walked down to the feast.

It wasn't the first time Remus would vanish during the day. It was harder to keep up in lessons when he wasn't there to direct them, and James began to wonder how he would pass his exams. Snape, he noticed, seemed to have taken Sirius' comment to heart, because he always shot a cold look at James whenever he passed them. He deserved it, James thought, for being such a prick.

It was weeks later that James found himself putting away his homework when he saw Remus slip out of the common room.

"Sirius."

Sirius was barely taking in the information from One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi when he glanced up.

"What?"

"Remus. He's gone again. I think we should follow him and see what he's up to."

Sirius looked up at the clock on the wall of the common room, which was nearing Five forty-five. Six was the Hogwarts curfew.

"You mean sneaking out at night?" Sirius snickered in mock disappointment. "I'm for it."

James laughed. The common room was full enough where it seemed unlikely anyone would have heard them; it wouldn't be too difficult to slip out when everyone was around.

The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and the two Gryffindors snuck out into the hall. The Fat Lady began to say something along the lines of "don't be long, you're almost out of time," when they spotted the top of Remus' head walking down a hallway.

It was getting progressively darker outside, and moonlight was beginning to creep through the tall windows. There were few students left in the hall, making their way up to their dormitories. Peeves, the Hogwarts Poltergeist, was wearing a hat with bells on it, throwing inkwells onto the floor in an empty classroom.